THE NATIONAL - Laugh Track (2023), listen #1

Never particularly wanted there to be such a long gap between writing about First Two Pages Of Frankenstein and Laugh Track, especially since they came out so close together.  Part of it is that life gets in the way, and blogging takes time.  I gotta admit, though, one thing that's never changed about this particular project is that I'm listening more out of a sense of commitment to the bit than because, at any given time, I'm not really that excited to hear any more new music from the National.  Usually once I get to know a National record I do get in the mood to hear more of it.  It's the getting started that actually requires a little bit of motivation.  Is the National doomed to be one of those bands that I spend a fuckton of time with but am just not excited about?

To the extent that I'm a National fan, it's that I've come to find their records comforting rather than exciting.  Once I actually started listening to Laugh Track, it felt... homey.  That's something that's changed a lot.  I'm totally accepting at this point of the way the Dessners write the backing tracks and the way Matt sings because, I mean, how could it sound like anything else?  Long time reader* of this blog will remember that there was a time when I had to constantly re-get used to how they do things and how they sound, since the National's music was so clearly not my preference; those days are gone.  Laugh Track as a whole was quite a pleasant first listen for me.  Hey, look: here's the National throwing in some new wibbly almost xylophone-sounding chimes and getting slightly closer to spoken word than usual, to make a slightly different version of their typical opening track, "Alphabet City."  Hey, look: Aaron still remembers how to do a soaring U2-inspired guitar line and make a straight ahead rock song like "Deep End."

At least during the first half, this seemed to be a little more of a rock album than its predecessor.  Maybe I just remember the more experimental moments, and granted it's been awhile since listening to First Two Pages.  All I'm saying is that, as a basic guy who likes rock n' roll, my first impression of Laugh Track is more positive than my first impression was of First Two Pages.

With familiarity comes a certain amount of indifference and complacency, though.  I did spend much of this listen thinking "yeah, of all the National records, this is one of them."  It is a long record, too - wasn't really expecting the surprise-drop to have more music on it than the more heavily promoted 2023 release - so by the end I definitely wished they would change it up a bit more.  I was fantasy-composing ways to throw in a new instrument here or a different kind of melody there.  Before I ultimately did get sucked into the title track (it took a minute or two to work on me), I got fixated on the idea that they should build a song around a harpsichord or something old fashioned like that, just to keep things interesting.  Instead, hey, look: here's another guitar soundscape that sounds a lot like the others.  I'll take it on faith that the songs will grow more distinct and some of them will stand out on repeat listens, though, given that I have yet to run across a record from this band where that didn't happen.  Other than the dopey sounding "Hornets," very little stood out as a bum track; just a nice collection of music.

Speaking of standing out, though... I've never paid all that much attention to how the National choose to close a record, because the closer is rarely the most exciting track on any given record in my experience.  Some are rockers like "Mr. November," some are mood pieces like "Sleep Well Beast," some I can barely even remember what the last song was because it was in keeping with everything else, but they're rarely any record's most adventurous tune.  Standing out in a good way on first listen, though, was Laugh Track's finale, "Smoke Detector."  Very cool insistent guitar part that doesn't sound quite like an alarm, but has the general effect of unease.  Very cool Matt doing Matt things as he builds urgency by talk-singing intensely.  "Smoke Detector" is the one I'm categorizing as both this record's epic, and this record's track that I need to spend a lot more time with.  And, dare I say it?  I am indeed excited to listen "Smoke Detector" again.

Stray comments:

- I mentioned getting sucked into "Laugh Track," the song, after a few minutes.  It did eventually happen.  A long, almost conversational chorus usually works on me.

- One thing that has changed, and I think it's the band and not me, is that I no longer expect that there are five layers of ironic detachment on top of everything that comes out of Matt's mouth.  A lyric like "you can stop dreaming, I'll dream for you" (from "Dreaming," naturally) at first blush sounds sincere.  My automatic inclination is to take it at face value.  That wouldn't have been true circa Alligator.

- Obviously alongside the usual indie rocker guests (Bon Iver, Phoebe Bridgers), the band brings in Rosanne Cash - of the Nashville Cashes - to sing on "Crumble."  She fits in pretty well with a band that abandoned most of their attempts at "roots-rock" a long time ago.  

Favorite Track:  "Laugh Track"

Runner up:  "Smoke Detector"

Least favorite track:  "Hornets"

Way too preliminary rating:  3.5/5

Thoughts on listen #2 whenever I get around to it!

*The use of the singular rather than the plural here is a "joke" that's only funny because it's true.