According to Wikipedia, the reason Laugh Track exists is that the band wanted to find a home for "Weird Goodbyes," the thing they did with Bon Iver that I guess was felt not to fit in with the material on First Two Pages Of Frankenstein because reasons. So, to a degree, one could say that the band released two records in the same year because of "Weird Goodbyes." But to be clear, it also does sound like they had some half-written songs kicking around too, and got to road-test them, the way rock bands used to write, back in a different era. I guess there could be an essay in that point, too, dissecting the fact that the National are enough of an institution that their place the music world is totally secure. You know you're a legacy act when you talk about writing on the road and during soundchecks as a change-of-pace choice; that's the only way to work when you're a hungry up-and-maybe-comer using touring to sustain your music habit. I'm not trying to be dismissive - some of my favorite pieces of music have come from aging legacy acts - it's just a fact. I mean, how many records in a row at this point have I mentioned something along the lines of "National doing National things?" We all know what a National record sounds like.
So according to the notes, there's more improv, more stuff that came together during soundcheck, and so on, that everyone agrees all add up to make it feel looser than a typical National record. Well, I'm glad it's not just me. I guess it also shows how much time I've spent with this band, because I both agree that this is a looser record whilst feeling that it's hard to really see Laugh Track as, like, dramatically different or anything. Are there really that many major departures? Would anyone except someone who's listened to a lot of National even make a distinction between a song that feels like it belongs on Laugh Track vs one that belongs on one of the last few? I actually noticed fewer unique touches this time around and more "oh, yeah, this sounds kinda like that other thing they did at a different time" moments.
Of course, in general one will notice different things the second time around. Some tracks are going to sound less exciting ("Alphabet City" didn't do so much for me this time around, and "Deep End (Paul's In Pieces)" seemed to coast on its riff and not do much else) and some will be more so. "Hornets" annoyed me the first go round and I think it's because certain lyrics seem a little annoying for reasons I can't specifically articulate now; on second listen I was fine with the song, thinking that it both has a good flow and does a few interesting things with the metaphor of using one's hands and arms. Getting back to "Weird Goodbyes," the track didn't stand out in particular for me on first listen. I appreciated it more this time - I like two-singer songs, plus once I saw how they used the title lyric it sorta fell into place. Although actually looking over the words makes it seem like WG could be just about any kind of awkward goodbye, something about hearing those lyrics sung (or maybe it's the starting with "bathwater") convinces me that it's specifically from the perspective of a sad dad (the character in my head has one college-age kid), rather than, say, a sad ex.* I am not a dad, but I am quite old, so I guess that's why I relate?
Somehow it didn't register at all the first time that Laugh Track has a song that: #1 is called "Space Invader," #2 is over seven minutes long, and #3 ends with a very fun lively outro that sounds more like a jam than anything they've done in forever. So, that's nice. And speaking of long songs that originated from jamming, is "Smoke Detector" still a/the highlight for me? Yeah, it is. It maybe doesn't feel quite as unique as I originally gave it credit for - it's not like Matt's never done psuedo spoken word before. I think what feels different than, say, "Walk It Back," is the sustained intensity. Rather than calculated rises and falls, Matt is just pressing onward with reams of lyrics - throwing in one of those great melodic counterpoints with actual melody on the "you don't know how much I love you" parts and then going right back to the smoke detector. Meanwhile, this is a band performance. Whichever Dessner is playing guitar is doing a thing where every fourth measure there's a burst of notes. Some of the later choruses are punctuated by having Bryan get loud, and it maks that bit sound different than the same thing without Bryan getting loud.** I can tell on second listen that this is a song stuffed full of details worth diving into, maybe even more so than the songs that's more deliberately constructed. I do wish the band would stretch out their wings like this more often.
I've mentioned three being my magic number for number of spins I'll give a promising record, but that's really only to decide how much I like something. If I'm going to dive into Laugh Track at the level I try for on the blog, I'll need some time and listening to absorb it way more thoroughly than I have so far. Is it a good thing or a bad thing that it's kind of been a slow process for this particular album? Neither, really. It's not even as though this is the first National record that took some time to process. And it's not even until my next run-through that I'll be able to say with any confidence how much I like the record, like I said.***
Favorite Track: "Smoke Detector"
Runner up: "Weird Goodbyes"
Least favorite track: "Turn Off The House"
Preliminary rating: still 3.5/5
Thoughts on listen #3 and beyond whenever I get around to it!
*This time around I have not looked up interpretations to see what the band actually intended. For any of these. Somehow it felt right to save all that stuff for after one more listen.
**I do think they succeeded in the stated goal of making sure Bryan was a bigger part of the sound this time, and I do think he's maybe been a bit missed in the band's drum-machine era
***Seriously, why did I ever decide to do two different "impressions in progress" post about each and every record? I'm glad I never have to do that again.
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