{"id":803,"date":"2013-05-18T23:21:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-18T23:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/testes\/?p=803"},"modified":"2020-09-25T21:13:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T20:13:38","slug":"ntnl-twfm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/?p=803","title":{"rendered":"The National \u2013 Trouble Will Find Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the National became what we could arguably call \u201cpresent\u2019s world greatest indie band\u201d, a classification Brooklyn-via-Cincinnati<\/em> group (tks, P4k) achieved among some folks with their widely acclaimed 2010 album High Violet<\/em>, they\u2019ve sort of crossed the river of relative \u201cpop\/rock starness<\/em>\u201d. That can be tough, can lead to get your own fans to stop from being your fans, can lead, in a band like the National, to an extreme, pernicious mainstreamization<\/em>, to be sloughy about your song writing and music composition. Even if some people, like that friend of mine (no pun intended) who claimed that despite being a huge fan of Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers<\/em> and Alligator<\/em>, and \u201call tolerant\u201d about Boxer<\/em> (that enormous collection of catchy \u2013 though kinda sad \u2013 songs), thinks\u00a0High Violet<\/em> is awful, its drumming is unbearable, et cetera, et cetera, the fact is that a record like that only happens<\/em> once in a blue moon. High Violet<\/em> is the sad (and officier<\/em>) version of Seinfeld, the sitcom, of the 21st<\/sup> century, in the form of a music record. Also, the National\u2019s evolution with time is unbelievably well, I dare say flawlessly planned. They have grown as a band with the years, just the way most of their records do the more and more one listens to them (Alligator<\/em> or its little brother Cherry Tree EP <\/em>are, probably, the finest example of it), and their strategy is a good one: each time a new record comes out, a new sound, a new topic<\/em> is added on top<\/strong> of what we already knew.<\/p>\n

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\"image\"<\/figure>\n

On Trouble Will Find Me<\/em>, it\u2019s probably that baroque, basso continuo<\/em>-alike sound, listened right when the album starts, with a great, strong, proper ballad, \u201cI Should Live in Salt\u201d<\/strong> \u2013 one of the nationalest<\/em> songs in the record, too.<\/p>\n

Some (yeah, in this text we only care about people who like the band \u2013 or at least don\u2019t hate all<\/em> the National\u2019s work) may be disappointed with the absence of the roughness, especially on the lyrics they had us used to, but, at the same time, I believe some of that roughness was rather na\u00efve, being fare to say that Matt Berninger, even though still able to produce little amazing drunken phrases like \u201cI wish everybody knew \/ what\u2019s so great about you\u201d, has matured a bit, which is, sorry for the clich\u00e9, not better or worse, it\u2019s just different.<\/p>\n

On \u201cDemons\u201d<\/strong>, first song officially put out, the repetition of a boring and meaningless verse (\u201cI stay down \/ with my demons\u201d) sort of spoils the mood of the listener, right on the second track. Fortunately, \u201cDon\u2019t Swallow the Cap\u201d<\/strong>, with the well-known drumming of Bryan Devendorf, introducing higher than usual pitched lead vocals, comes not to show up as the album\u2019s best moment, yet as a very good tune, with an excellent guitar work. The National do<\/em> know how to rock and roll, and it\u2019s songs like this one or, and especially, \u201cSea of Love\u201d<\/strong> (with that bass \u2013 Scott is great \u2013 inherited directly from Boxer<\/em>) and \u201cGraceless\u201d<\/strong> (the best on TWFM<\/em>, a song which has had the awful luck of being born in the shadow of a similar, and even greater, one: \u201cBloodbuzz Ohio\u201d) are proof more than enough of it.<\/p>\n

Assuming a bit of taste, even the biggest fan (and for credibility sake I have to admit I am one) knows<\/em> this is the record of expendable songs. \u201cFireproof\u201d<\/strong> is one of those songs (srsly, Cherry Tree<\/em> is there, it\u2019s amazing, no point on overdoing it), and, nearer to the end, \u201cPink Rabbits\u201d<\/strong>, a pretty but way toooooo slushy (too mnstrm<\/em>! that\u2019s what I was talking about earlier) slow which isn\u2019t able to convince \u2013 even with those solid, as usual, words here and there.<\/p>\n

Still,\u00a0the record isn\u2019t far from great. Sorry, it\u2019s only the truth. The level on the best songs already mentioned or ones like \u201cI Need My Girl\u201d<\/strong> (Dessner brothers are the best guitarists on the indie world right know, I assure you) with the sweetest, simplest melody and amazing lyrics; or the not less beautiful, \u201cGospel\u201d (the outstanding song that closes 2007 Boxer<\/em>) sound-alike \u201cHeavenfaced\u201d<\/strong> \u2013 a wonderful instrumental arrangement, from the guitar to the keyboards, highly elaborated, ever growing, not the best but doubtlessly the loveliest. And, like returning to the beginning, so long ago, of an American americana<\/em>-rock band some people thought was the successor of Silver Jews on 2001 The National<\/em>, \u201cThis Is the Last Time\u201d<\/strong> is nothing else than a bridge from \u201cAmerican Mary\u201d to 2013. On \u201cSlipped\u201d<\/strong>, an enormous piece of songwriting, Matt apologizes for everything (something he\u2019s so fond of doing) and states that doesn\u2019t need \u201cany help to be breakable\u201d; it\u2019s the band\u2019s lead singer telling the listeners nothing has actually changed. \u201cHumiliation\u201d<\/strong> suffers a bit from the problem of being eclipsed by so many better songs this band has done in the past, but \u201cHard to Find\u201d<\/strong> is, once again, different, in a good way, it contains the sweetness that is the most valuable acquisition of the National in this process of evolution. All in all, with all the (objective) odds against them, they \u201cfailed to fail\u201d. Which is great.<\/p>\n

Another friend of mine (again, no pun intended) trusted them with her skin. I, by now, am fairly sure I\u2019d trust them with my life.<\/p>\n

\"4\/5\"<\/figure>\n

– RC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the National became what we could arguably call \u201cpresent\u2019s world greatest indie band\u201d, a classification Brooklyn-via-Cincinnati group (tks, P4k) achieved among some folks with their widely acclaimed 2010 album High Violet, they\u2019ve sort of crossed the river of relative \u201cpop\/rock starness\u201d. That can be tough, can lead to get your own fans to stop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2696],"tags":[1966,1970,1967,1969,1968,1958,228,1965,137,1971,363,1964],"class_list":["post-803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-old-bolachas","tag-aaron-dessner","tag-alligator","tag-alternative","tag-boxer","tag-high-violet","tag-indie","tag-matt-berninger","tag-ntnl","tag-review","tag-sad-songs-for-dirty-lovers","tag-the-national","tag-trouble-will-find-me"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=803"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1993,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions\/1993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bolachas.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}