THE NATIONAL - High Violet (2010), listen #2

I don’t think I’m unique in that I like rock because, of, well, the parts that rock.  A killer riff or solo that goes loud, or a chorus in which the singer goes loud to sell the emotion of what’s being sung is a classic because it works, and makes the listener feel something.  It’s a classic for a reason.  Other styles of music don’t trigger quite the same thing in me, which is why for such a would be intellectual I gravitate towards the loud stuff.  If it doesn’t make me want to turn the volume up, I’m starting from the point of being more likely to appreciate than love.

I enjoy the National’s music overall, and these posts have been in part a chronicle of my gradual acceptance of the fact that they don’t really “rock” the way I want from my rock bands, yet being unable to escape from the fact that the rockier moments are still usually my favorite tracks.  This doesn’t mean anything about how good a band they are, just that they aren’t a pump-your-fist sort of band.  From the start, they’ve* always favored slow builds to moments that are “big” through atmosphere and open/cinematic sound rather than though the speed or volume of any one instrument.  Indie-rock bands do that shit all the time, and, well, some are better than others.  By the time of this fifth full-length record (sixth if you include the EP), they pretty much know how they want to construct the climaxes of their songs.  So you have “Terrible Love” repeating the main lyric as they layer in more and more elements, until the point where the climax sounds big despite it being neither a loud song nor a fast one.  Then you follow it up immediately with “Sorrow,” built around a repeating riff that’s fast but is one-note enough that it may as well be pre-programmed**, a slow vocal part, and a song that builds to a climax – not as strong as the one from “Terrible Love” for me, but definitely a big ending to a song that sounds big even through it's neither fast nor loud.  And then “Anyone’s Ghost” follows that template, with a hooky enough “chorus” that it was the first of two times that I did turn up the volume and contemplate the fact that sometimes this band can really rock, without, well, rocking.  “Little Faith” could easily have been a lighter ballad but the band would rather throw in some horns and some “ah ah” backing vocals to make the second half punchier.  You have to get to “Runaway” before you get a straight up soft song that isn’t trying to go big.

 
I mentioned that “Anyone’s Ghost” made me crank the volume to appreciate all the elements going into its climax – it joins the long tradition of songs with “Ghost” in the title generally being good.  The other one was the end section of “England,” when they do that thing where they signal the intense part of a song by getting louder and having the singer actually raise his voice… and yeah, that is indeed my favorite moment on the record.  It’s a classic for a reason.
 
Elsewhere the band spends a little time utilizing one of my other favorite tricks of theirs, which is throwing a haunting dissonant note in towards the end of a bar, usually going in the opposite direction as the vocal melody.  Two big examples here are the build to the end of “Afraid Of Everyone” and the main riff of “Lemonworld,” although there’re others.  Especially when the drumming is on point, that sounds good, and they keep going to that well successfully. 
 
 
Lyrics notes:  I kinda cringe at the lyric from “Bloodbuzz Ohio.” “I still owe money to the money I owe?”  Dude, c’mon, that’s not nearly clever enough to build a pre-chorus around.  Also, lumping all of “Ohio” together like it was one place is the sort of thing a band that’s not from motherfucking Ohio would do.  On the flipside, my favorite thing based on a fairly superficial listen about the lyrics on High Violet is the character building – “Lemonworld” and “Conversation 16” seem to be making their narrators characters, throwing in some details that help the listener understand why this speaker would have this specific worldviews.
 
Personnel note:  Rather than the Dessners splitting guitar and keys duties, Aaron and one of the dozen-plus guest musicians are the only ones credited with any keyboard work.  Don’t know if there’s a story there.
 
- Favorite track:  “Anyone’s Ghost”
- Runner up: “England”
- Least favorite track:  “Bloodbuzz Ohio”
- Working rating: 3.5/5 (unchanged) 
 
 Thoughts on listen #3 whenever I get around to it!
 
 
*”They” here I guess is mostly Matt and Aaron, who are the credited cowriters of the vast majority of High Violet
 
**I’m honestly kinda surprised they haven’t yet, at this point in the chronology, gone through a phase where they have one or two records that heavily incorporate electronic and synthesized elements.  They totally seem like a group that would do that.  Maybe it’ll happen in the 2010s.

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