SOUNDTRACK: THE NATIONAL-NonCOMM Free at Noon (May 16, 2019).
The National are an interesting band. They tend to write songs that feel ponderous–sometimes slow and, with Matt Berninger’s deep voice, very intense. And yet their lyrics can sometimes be inscrutable [“I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees”] and they have done cover songs for Bob’s Burgers on more than one occasion (“Bad Things Happen in the Bathroom”).
So this concert is a bit of a revelation because of how poppy and almost dancey some of these songs are. Berninger’s voice is nowhere near as deep as I imagined (his speaking voice is deeper than his singing voice) and the songs have a lot of variety to them.
Perhaps it’s the new album, I am Easy to Find.
Expanded to a ten-piece band, The National showcased ten of the album’s sixteen tracks, demonstrating the beauty and strength of the project. Vocalist Matt Berninger led the group’s vast array of instruments and vocalists, and kept everything from sounding overwhelming. The resulting set was a glorious display of emotion and expansive sound.
They opened with “You Had Your Soul With You”, The track shows their musical horizons starting to expand. Vocalists Kate Stables (This Is The Kit) and Pauline de Lassus (Mina Tindle), joined Berninger on stage, adding a new dimension to the band’s sound. They sung throughout the show, representing the inclusion of female voices and perspectives across the record.
Like many of their songs, it is pretty and invites you to lean in to listen to the lyrics.
Berninger introduced the next song “Oblivions” by emphasizing the “s” “There’s a bunch of them. They keep coming. Together.” This song sounded very different, with a synthy, almost dancey vibe.
Stables and de Lassus opened “The Pull of You” before Berninger joined them. This song has some interesting drum work as many of them do. Midway through, Berninger has a spoken word section that makes it sound like Tindersticks.
He tells us that his wife wrote “Hey Rosy.” He deadpans, “I thought it was about me.” There’s a quiet piano intro and I love the very-The National delivery of the chorus “Hey Ro / zee I / think I know just what the / feeling is.”
“Quiet Light” is a gentle, shuffling song. The warm horn solos that closed the track were a wonderful touch.
Aaron Dessner spoke before they played the tender “I Am Easy To Find” and dedicated it to his friend, Adia Victoria, who played the same stage yesterday and was watching the set from the balcony.
The song is a duet of female and male vocals. I love the fast delivery of this chorus as well. Once again, very The National: “there’s a million little battles that I’m never gonna win / anyway.”
The band contrasted the solemness of these tracks with the brightness of “Where Is Her Head.”
Berninger says, “Mike Mills wrote the lyrics to this one… well, most of them… so he gets all of the publishing. So now you know whey were doing it.”
Sung mostly by Stables and de Lassus, the track replaced the grey aura that filled the room with glittering oranges and pinks.
The song features a quiet looping of the lyrics as Berninger sings solo vocal runs over their chorus.
“Rylan” continued the upbeat-streak. The song, which declared that “everyone loves a quiet child,” showed The National playing with their volume. Towards the end they repeatedly built up their sound, only to swiftly quiet it.
Easy To Find‘s closing track, “Light Years,” was the simplest and most moving they played. With its heartbreaking lyrics and one of the saddest basslines ever played, the track left the crowd awestruck.
It opens with a gentle piano and Berninger’s deeper, quieter vocals. When the women sang back up with him, it was really lovely.
They could have stopped there, with tears quietly building in everyone’s eyes, but they continued with “Not In Kansas.”
Berninger says. We have one more song. This one’s 25 minutes long. It was. Then Mike Mills made it like 6 minutes long. Whatever. He was in charge. Everything that’s bad about the record we always blame on Mike and we take credit for all the good stuff.” He paused “there’s some good stuff.”
It has a lovely quiet guitar intro.
While its lyrics focused on the craziness plaguing the world, the track felt small and insular. In closing with it, The National went out with a polite wave, rather than with a bang.
My friend Armando told me that The National puts on some of the best shows he’s ever been to. I hope to see them some day.
[READ: June 1, 2019] “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere”
I did not like the narrator of this story at all. She is hiding behind so much. In fairness, she has a lot to get over, but she closes herself off so much that she’s hard for people to get to know (and also hard for a reader to like).
Dina is at Yale orientation. She does not have to do the trust fall because she “shouldn’t have to fit into any white, patriarchal systems.”
In the next game she had to say what inanimate object she wanted to be. She said “revolver,” which got her put on psychiatric watch for the entire year and a solo room.
She also saw a therapist whom she wasn’t interested in talking to but who seemed to see right through her. (more…)
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SOUNDTRACK: ANTONIO CORA-“The Cellar” (from The Blair Witch Project) (1999).
A lot of the music I listen to is weird and probably creepy to other people, but I don’t necessarily think of songs as appropriate for Halloween or not. So for this year’s Ghost Box stories, I consulted an “expert”: The Esquire list of Halloween songs you’ll play all year long. The list has 45 songs–most of which I do not like. So I picked 11 of them to post about.
