THE NATIONAL - Alligator (2005), listen #1

Does the National have a sense of humor?  That’s a question that randomly popped into my mind when they opened this record with the lyric “I think this place is full of spies” and then spent the song playing off spy clichés.  Here I’m not so much talking about the dudes in the band – I’m sure they’re, well, some dudes.  I’m more trying to personify the National as an entity (which is why I’m using the singular here).  When writing songs, does the National ever make itself laugh – seriously laugh, not sardonically chuckle?  Does the National ever have any fun?  Does the National ever experience joy in a way that’s not arch or ironic?  Is it a dour sad dad whose only modes are misery and bitter amusement, or is it actually a chill individual with a really dry sense of humor that others don’t get?  For instance, “All The Wine,” sounding more or less the same as it did on Cherry Tree, has always struck me as more scathingly ironic rather than “funny,” but was that the intended tone? 
 
Getting back to “Secret Meeting,” the way the song transitions from the spy lingo to whatever missed connection it’s actually about, is the song pleased with its turns of phrase?  Is the image in “Karen” of a “doting man” “ballerina[ing] on the coffee table, cock in hand” supposed to be weird and funny, or just dark?  Does the band derive any amusement in calling someone a “balloon” [in “Friend Of Mine”], or is it just a turn of phrase that somehow feels normal?  (I misheard the lyric as “that man’s a maroon,” which is even more incongruous.)  The closing track, “Mr. November,” has a character give himself the titular nickname that’s presumably a play on the baseball-inspired “Mr. October” but isn’t, and then pointedly not-rhymes “I’m Mr. November” with “I won’t fuck us over.”  Is that a joke?  And is burying jokes such that listeners have to dissect them out something that the National enjoys and/or is amused by, or is the National just off in the corner being numb and detached?
 
I suppose the joke is on me irrespective of whether there’s overt humor that’s just not quite on my wavelength or whether I’m needlessly working at trying to make a collection of phrases and lines into something they’re not.  I may have to Google things like “Soho Riots” to even get what half of these metaphors are going for, and hopefully it’ll be an interesting poetic exercise and not a waste of time.
 
Musically, I continue to amuse myself with my narrative that the band has started specifically composing songs to try to force Matt into singing an actual chorus here and there, and sometimes they get him and sometimes they don’t.  Lot of driving rhythms here to generate energy, and it says something that something like “Friend Of Mine” feels “heavier” than the semi-screamed “Abel” – vocals aren’t the only way a song can rock, they’re just what I’m most used to listening for.  Actually, the record makes the interesting choice of back-loading most of the rocking tracks, with “Mr. November” maybe being the heaviest, such that it is, on the record.  In my world of made up genres, this feels firmly in the bucket of “indie rock” rather than “roots rock,” and I’d be hard pressed to explain exactly why except for maybe pointing to the instrumentation, and how many of these songs are built around a haze of guitars.  If the National don’t at some point in their career go through at least a phase where they lean into the synths/electronics, I’ll be a bit surprised – at this stage in their existence, they’re rapidly becoming the kind of band that’s destined to do that.  
 
Overall first impression is that this one lacks the adventurous energy of Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers, but at least it has an energy to it, something that was sorely missing from Cherry Tree.
 
 
Personnel notes:  This record again features Padma Newsome on various strings.  And among the people credited with backing vocals is one Carin Besser, who would go on to have a longstanding relationship with the band thanks in part to her longstanding relationship with its lead singer.  I don’t really know or care whether she and Matt were together at this point.
 
- Favorite track:  [N/A, not ready to commit]
- Runner up:  [N/A, ibid]
- Least favorite track:  [N/A, ibid]
 - Working rating:  3/5 (Decent)

 

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