THE NATIONAL - Boxer (2007), listen #2

You know how it is.  You’re listening to a record for the first time and you’re trying to put together a narrative, and since you don’t remember the songs all that well but are trying to have something to say, you make sweeping statements about how things be.  Well, I’m going to have to slightly walk a few things back.  Last time I described Boxer as basically a pleasant blur of mid-tempo soundscapes and concluded that this was basically the mode that the National operate best in, and slightly bemoaned that they’d never be the band I’d go to to rock out.
 
Well, this listen through, “Fake Empire” played out about the way I remembered, with a great twisty piano line and a straightforward vocal melody.  It’s not a different type of song than, say, “Wasp Nest,” except for the part where “Fake Empire” is actually enjoyable to listen to – it just does their thing better.  So I was in that mode of expecting moody stuff and briefly wondered if the second track, “Mistaken For Strangers,” started with a great down-tuned riff, I wondered how it would sound more stripped down.  That quickly evaporated once Bryan’s part hit, and then the “you get mistaken for strangers” part hit with an outright propulsive melody.  The song has such a mix of energy and dread that I can’t help but say that it rocks. 
 
So, two songs in, this record rocks!  Did I completely get my initial impression wrong?  “Brainy” follows it up with a big drum beat too, and… no.  No rocking here, just mid-tempo sludge.  Meh.  And we’re firmly in indie-rock mode for the rest of the record.  Which, I mean, is perfectly fine, it plays to the band’s strengths, but I think “Mistaken For Strangers,” also plays to their strengths while being a way more exciting song than what follows.  The only other song that gets my blood pumping like that on Boxer is “Apartment Story,” whereas the other ten songs are something different.
 
I’m really not trying to be too harsh on those other ten.  Boxer is mostly good mid-tempo indie-rock.  Even if “Brainy” doesn’t do it for me, “Squalor Victoria” is a pretty good song, right?  “Guest Room” is solid, right?  Most of these songs are good.  I think at least a few of them are going to keep growing on me with repeat listens, and I’m looking forward to spending more time with the record.  It’s nice to be looking forward to spending more time with a National record.  I hope it’s not too obvious that at times during this project I’ve been way more engaged in non-National things - like, say, listening to and blogging about Eluveitie - just due to my tastes.  I don’t know whether this will be the record that sells me on this band, or if that’ll ever happen, but Boxer has a better shot at that than anything they’d put out before that.  It helps that they managed to not mix in any songs to make me irrationally angry along with the good stuff this time.
 
Stray thoughts:
-Speaking of doing old things but better, one thing they’ve definitely gotten better at is crafting instrumental parts that go well with the phrases Matt is throwing out.  There’s nothing mysterious about the formula of hoping that the listener will latch onto a few-word half-sentance and paint a picture in their mind from it with the help of the music that accompanies it.  The National have generally been inconsistent at actually making that happen.  Here, “Squalor Victoria” sounds like someone trying to put a happy face on living in literal or figurative/emotional squalor.  “Green Gloves” sounds like falling out of touch with friends who are out somewhere getting wasted.  “Apartment Story” sounds like its characters are simultaneously tired and wired, as they hold themselves together, or try to.
 
-The only thing that makes me cringe on this record is actually singling “sometimes you go la di da di da” in the second verse of “Racing Like A Pro.”  It’s rare to get only one cringe moment   And it’s not even enough to ruin the song, which is otherwise fine. 
 
-For some reason I just absolutely adore the piano line on “Ada,” especially the tinkling high notes at the end of each measure
 
 
- Favorite track:  “Mistaken For Strangers”
- Runner up: “Ada”
- Least favorite track:  “Slow Show”
- Working rating:  3.5/5
 
Thoughts on listen #3 and beyond whenever I get around to it!

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