THE NATIONAL - I Am Easy To Find (2019), listen #2

When listening to music with which I'm not familiar, knowing that I'm going to have to write about before listening again, it helps to mentally jot down notes of major things.  When there are a lot of songs and a lot of music (and while I'm walking or whatever I may also be getting distracted by other things), only a few notes can be held in a brain at a time.  On this particular occasion, though, I'm actually in front of a screen while sitting and doing my second listen to I Am Easy To Find.  So this is about the closest to a "reaction video" that I'm capable of doing as a blog post.  These are the most prominent thoughts and impressions, only lightly filtered, that pass through my mind.

You Had Your Soul With You:  Closer to a rocker than I usually expect from a National opener.  I like the frenetic strings, but that start-stop distortion used throughout the song is pretty distracting.

Quiet Light:  Not only does the track sound like it could have been on Sleep Well, but it specifically evokes the latter half of Sleep Well.  Kind of a sleepy song about a quiet moment of uneasy near-sleep, with some good direct lyrics.  I sometimes mention the combination of words and music can sometimes paint a clear picture and sometimes totally fail to do so; this is one of the ones that succeeds in putting a scene in my mind. 

Roman Holiday:  I still absolutely hate the pause in the delivery of the title lyric, enough that it's distracting me from even trying to vibe with anything else.  Also "There are police in the museum.  Roman holl... iday every time it rains?"  WTF is this shit?  It's not worth my time to engage here.

Oblivions:  The guest singer's voice is a little bit annoying when breathily singing slowly.  She's better when doing a chatty lots-of-words cadence the way Matt does (like on the "I am easy to find but I know that it's never me" part, or whatever it is that she's saying).  This one I'm finding a little dull.

The Pull Of You:  Hah, the "BOOP, boop boop" background sound effect sound evokes a phone or an alarm pulsing.  Although the pattern is actually closest to a walkie-talkie.  Just when I was starting to get frustrated at the lack of energy, the percussion kicks in and does a lot to propel the song, and the desperation in both singers' vocals does the rest as far as bringing up the intensity.  TPOY remains, preliminarily, an album highlight for me.

Hey Rosey:  Nice to hear a bit of actual piano rather than general "keys" during the intro, wish they'd stuck with it.

I Am Easy To Find:  Good mournful chorus.  Being easy to find doesn't sound like a positive trait from the narrator's perspective.  Unlike most National songs, thanks to the distribution of the voices, there's a very feminine vibe; my mental picture definitely has a female character being the one who's futilely waiting for someone in the (proverbial) middle of the street.

Her Father In The Pool:  Since it's an a capella interlude, are there even any regular National members appearing on the track at all? 

Where Is Her Head:  Two singers singing two totally different tunes with different words is a way underused trick.  Probably because it's challenging to get right, and because most bands only have one vocalist.  Is this going to be the one that grows on me big time starting around listen 3 or 4?  It's got a shot at becoming a favorite, I think.  We'll see.

Not In Kansas:  At first I was annoyed it was taking forever to get going, then I was caught up in how sweeping it is, like the story of a life, then I was inspired to look up the lyrics.  And then I got more confused.  I'm not going to look up fan interpretations until next listen, but for now I choose to view it as a story about a character's relationship with either their hometown, the notion of religious faith, or both.  If I'm way off base, well, so be it.  Either way, "it's half your fault, so half-forgive me" is the best one-liner on I Am Easy.

So Far So Fast:  First appearance of the choral singing mentioned in the last post that of course will be central to the following track.  Not bad overall, but feeling at the moment like maybe its length isn't justified.

---there's a gap here, BTW, listened to the rest of the record later rather than doing it all in one go---

Dust Swirls In Strange Light:  When talking about music that includes elements that I personally don't favor, sometimes all I can say is that I have a sense that this isn't good, but that it's almost there.  I see what the track is trying for, at least.  If unsuccessful at it - and I think that the song is unsuccessful - at least it's a near-miss.

Hairpin Turns:  I forgot to express my bafflement about the "days are brutalism" thing last time?  I continue to find it a strange and pretentious lyric that takes me right out of a song that otherwise has quite a strong chorus.  "Hairpin Turns" overall starts working really well for me musically once the buzz drops out in favor of the piano part.

Rylan:  I really do kinda hate any song that throws in a pause between words (or syllables) in a line.  Irrational pet peeve.  Also, apparently Matt's paternal-figure characters haven't gotten any better at giving coherent advice since "Son" so very long ago, haha.* 

Underwater:  A pleasant enough minute and a half.

Light Years:  As a wise man once said (in a different context), "every inch between us becomes light years now."  But anyway, pretty straightforward and direct song.  I do like this one.

Overall thoughts:

I Am Easy To Find is okay.  For the moment it's the sort of record with which I can't imagine anyone applying the term "essential," especially not anyone aware of all the other National records out there.

Favorite track:  "The Pull Of You"

Runner up:  "Quiet Light"

Least favorite track:  "Roman Holiday"

Rating:  3/5

Thoughts on further listens whenever I get around to it!

*Although I'll allow that maybe there's more to it, if the next song being titled "Underwater" is meant to be a follow-up to "Rylan's" deceptively casual mentions of getting some sun and going out to the ocean...