I Was Afraid I'd Eat Your Brains

Ahoy. It took me a good five months to really get into Boxer, The National's excellent 2007 album, so I have been making a conscious effort over the past week or so to get those requisite first listens of their new album, High Violet, out of the way. Sure enough, upon first listen nothing really struck me, with the exception of maybe the calculated (but still really good) bombast of Bloodbuzz Ohio, which I had already heard. I didn't hear a Mistaken For Strangers, an Apartment Story, or a Slow Show - and surely no Start A War (one of the best songs of the last decade). No song begged to be immediately repeated. 

With my expectations appropriately adjusted, the second listen proved to be illuminating. The songs on High Violet take a little more time to develop, but the hooks and genius lyrical turns are still there. Two songs in particular recently jumped out at me - the first one being the closer, Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks:

I absolutely love songs with two levels of choruses - and this one's got three (as I see it, anyways). I think the format goes like this: 

Verse

Chorus ("Vanderlyle Crybaby Cry")

Surprise Second Chorus ("I'll Explain Everything to the Geeks")

Surprise Third Chorus ("All The Very Best of Us...")

Chorus

Second Chorus

Verse

Third Chorus

Chorus

Second Chorus (extended)

Now I'm no math expert, but that there is a solid 4:1 chorus-to-verse ratio. No wonder it's such a great tune, especially as an album closer.

Another song, Conversation 16, jumped out at me today when I was listening to the album at work. The song starts out innocuously enough, until the zombie part:




All in all, I am confident High Violet will reveal itself over time as a solid entry into The National's discography, although I don't see it topping Boxer. Check back with me in five months though.

Download Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks and Conversation 16 here. And tell me what you think.

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I heard the first 4 songs on The New Pornographers' new release Together - sounds really good and will be tackling that one soon, maybe when the temperature stops dipping below 40 degrees at night.

I also need to give Woods' At Echo Lake a proper listen soon, as well as Blitzen Trapper's new one. So many good releases this spring!