Finally, it’s time for the annual playlist that caps off my countdown. Rather than do a ranking of favorite songs, I choose to compile what I think is a good representation for the year in music, all on an 80 minute CD-R. Per the norm, plenty of my favorite songs couldn’t find their way on here due to length, or production techniques of the track, so in some cases I’ve got songs on here that aren’t even my favorite from its respective album.
Other notes: I managed to squeeze 20 tracks onto this years mix, same as last year. This is a very top 25 heavy playlist, as only two songs show up from albums outside my top 25. Those songs being The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die’s “Gig Life” and Tegan and Sara’s “Closer” from their very nice album Heartthrob, my #35 album of the year, which is the lowest ranked album to find a song on my playlist in 2013. Of the remaining tracks, 10 come from albums in my #11-#25 range, and 8 from albums in my top 10. The only top 10 albums that don’t have a representative on my mix are Sunbather and Reflektor. As always, the order of the Mixtape is not a ranking, but rather an order based on how the song appears on its respective album.
Below, you’ll see the tracklist, and after the jump you can listen to every track if you so choose. I’ve also created Rdio and Spotify playlists, the latter of which is embedded below. (Note, “new you” isn’t available on either service.) There’s also my Amazon.com list which has my entire top 25 albums of the year, nice and neat in a one page form (and access to my all my lists since 2001). And last but not least, this is the 6th straight year Amy Boyd has stepped up to provide me my album art. She actually spent part of her birthday working on this, but that’s why she gets paid the big bucks. (Disclaimer: there are no bucks being transferred, much less big ones.)
2013 was a great year for music, and a very tough act to follow. Let’s see what you got, 2014.
1) “Closer” – Tegan and Sara :: Heartthrob
2) “You & I” – Local Natives :: Hummingbird
3) “The Mother We Share” – Chvrches :: The Bones of What You Believe
4) “KV Crimes” – Kurt Vile :: Wakin On a Pretty Daze
5) “Backyard Skulls” – Frightened Rabbit :: Pedestrian Verse
6) “Counting” – Autre Ne Veut :: Anxiety
7) “Song for Zula” – Phosphorescent :: Muchacho
8) “Borrowed Time” – Parquet Courts:: Light Up Gold
9) “Royals” – Lorde :: Pure Heroine
10) “Step” – Vampire Weekend :: Modern Vampires of the City
11) “The Wire” – Haim :: Days Are Gone
12) “Byegone” – Volcano Choir :: Repave
13) “Sea of Love” – The National :: Trouble Will Find Me
14) “Dropla” – Youth Lagoon :: Wondrous Bughouse
15) “new you” – My Bloody Valentine :: m b v
16) “Hold On, We’re Going Home” – Drake :: Nothing Was The Same
17) “Avocado, Baby” – Los Campesinos! :: No Blues
18) “She Will” – Savages :: Silence Yourself
19) “Gig Life” – The World Is A Beautiful Place… :: Whenever, If Ever
20) “Doin’ It Right” – Daft Punk :: Random Access Memories
#5) Haim – Days Are Gone [Columbia; released 9/30/2013]
“Because I’m sorry what I did, but it came naturally.”
“The Wire”
Perhaps the year’s most addictive album belongs to Haim, the trio of sisters hailing from Los Angeles whose brand of pop is played with such spirit and sincerity that it’s impossible not to be wrapped up in its genuine enthusiasm. Often, when a girl rock/pop group is introduced, there’s an expectation of jaded angst, and I certainly wasn’t expecting something so polished and mature, but these girls are having fun and aren’t afraid to show it these 11 not-a-clunker-in-the-bunch pop songs, played with a spunky arrogance evident in their live shows and day to day escapades. Frequently compared to Fleetwood Mac, there are clear 90’s soft rock and R&B influences that come to the forefront that I liken more to an Amy Grant, most notably on tracks “If I Could Change Your Mind” and “Honey & I” which follow possibly the best trio of songs to open an album all year long. When they do venture out in different directions like on “My Song 5” and its disjointed beats, the results are no less stunning. But what’s most impressive about these ladies, in addition to showing excellent songwriting prowess, is that even with their influences all over their sleeves, the songs have a distinct Haim flavor brimming with confidence making Days Are Gone the year’s best and most auspicious debut.
[“Falling” – Days Are Gone]
#4) The National – Trouble Will Find Me [4AD; released 5/21/2013]
“I am secretly in love with everyone who I grew up with.”
“Demons”
Consistency isn’t exactly considered a sexy quality when it comes to a band’s discography and rarely moves the needle from release to release, which is what makes The National’s steady stream of excellent albums such an impressive, but overlooked, feat. What The National do so well is create songs with elaborate structures and production techniques all contained in an easily accessible package. Here we have Trouble Will Find Me, as Nationally as The National get, but perhaps their most refined record with complex time signatures and subtle tweaks – the harmonica on “Sea of Love” is possibly my favorite moment of any song in 2013 – and a production value that is quickly making Aaron Dessner one of the most sought after producers in indie rock. Yet this is all stuff that can go completely unnoticed and have no effect on the casual listener enamored by the powerfully warm anthems and all their majesty. This is largely why The National’s albums are considered such growers, as the nuances rise to the surface upon repeated listens to allow for a deeper appreciation. With Trouble Will Find Me, the Brooklyn five-piece has released their 4th straight stone-cold classic album, as relatable and fixated on life’s mundanities as anything in their repertoire, but in no way routine in and of itself.
[“Demons” – Trouble Will Find Me]
#3) Deafheaven – Sunbather [Deathwish; released 6/11/2013]
“I want to dream.”
“Dream House”
Not in a thousand years would I have thought a metal album would ever crack my Top Albums list, but here we are. Deafheaven is a black metal band from San Francisco featuring all the shrieking and double bass pedals one would expect from the genre, and it’s perhaps the most immediately striking and visceral album released in 2013. The vocals are of course the most polarizing part of any black metal band, but Deafheaven does a nice job with the mix by blending George Clarke’s vocals quite well with the backing music so they’re not too overwhelming, while still managing to come across passionate. Though it’s musically where Sunbather truly shines, by fusing metal, post-rock, hardcore and shoegaze all into a mind-blowing end product that most importantly gets the listener to feel something, anything, about life. Each song is a journey, but none better than album opener and song of the year contender “Dream House”, a 9-minute masterpiece featuring Explosions in the Sky type musicianship paired with Clarke’s screams that build to a breathtaking climax shocking in how moving it is. With many of Deafheaven’s metal peers, the music is so dense that all’s to be done after listening is to close yourself off and contemplate life, whereas with Sunbather, you want to press repeat and go live it.
[“Dream House” – Sunbather]
#2) Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City [XL; released 5/14/2013]
“Though we live on the US Dollar, you and me, we got our own sense of time.”
“Hannah Hunt”
It may seem simple, but there is actually a pretty involved process for making this list. The most basic thing I do, of course, is to listen to every single album again starting sometime around Thanksgiving. In listening to each album, I keep a running playlist in iTunes of the best songs of the year. When it came time to spin Modern Vampires of the City, Vampire Weekend’s third – and best – album, it took every part of me to not just grab the whole damn album and drop it in that playlist. No album in 2013 has the amount of pure pop bliss displayed in Modern Vampires – and considering Days Are Gone, that’s quite impressive. But this album is so much more, with an added depth that hasn’t really ever been present on Vampire Weekend albums, at least not in as cohesive and thoughtful of a manner.
I’ve always thought Vampire Weekend was underrated in the lyrics department, perhaps off-putting to some in their cleverness, so it’s no surprise to me to see the songwriting abilities of Ezra Koenig finally grab the listener in ways previous albums just couldn’t quite do. Paired with Koenig’s vocals is the music of Rostam Batmanglij, who’s the real star of the show with songs as sophisticated as anything in the New York quartet’s catalog, which is saying something considering the group has been one of the torchbearers for sophisticated chamber pop since their inception. Supposedly, this album wraps up the trilogy that was the band’s first three releases, so it’ll be interesting to see what the future holds, but with songs as expertly crafted as these, Vampire Weekend has earned our trust.
[“Unbelievers” – Modern Vampires of the City]
#1) Phosphorescent – Muchacho [Dead Oceans; released 3/19/2013]
“Then I saw love disfigure me into something I am not recognizing.”
“Song for Zula”
You’ve heard the story before: guy loses girl, retreats into solitude, and emerges with a cathartic release that results in an accomplished album of profound proportions. Such is the story of Matthew Houck, the Brooklyn by-way-of Georgia by-way-of Alabama singer/songwriter who with Muchacho has released the best album of his career, an impassioned juggernaut which will go down as 2013’s lyrical masterpiece and for me, album of the year. But there’s more to this story than just getting over a breakup. After a grueling tour in support of 2010’s Here’s to Taking Easy, Houck returned to New York hoping to recharge only to find he was being evicted from his recording space and in a relationship beyond repair. Houck withdrew, debating his future as Phosphorescent, and retreated to Mexico for a sabbatical of sorts. So much of Muchacho is inspired by those events, not only in lyrics but also the backing music which is at times folk, at times alt-country, and at times southwest americana, but never not gorgeous.
I shouldn’t get ahead of myself though, because nothing about this album can be said without first mentioning the stunning track “Song for Zula”, which while not the album opener, thanks to bookends “Sun Arise (An Invocation, An Introduction)” and “Sun Arising (A Koan, An Exit)”, serves as the best introduction to what Houck is doing with Muchacho. The honesty and heartbreak is palpable on “Song for Zula”, which despite having no real chorus doesn’t merely plod along, but rather is a beautifully crafted song with flavors of Tom Petty at his peak. It’s my song of the year, as chill inducing as anything I heard in 2013, with its staggering imagery and wounded lead performance.
From there the album moves on to more upbeat and immediate tracks like “Ride On / Right On” and “A Charm / A Blade” which despite their subject matter convey a little bit of hope and joy with their spontaneous hoots and hollers, a welcome sight for an album that could be considered too bleak and sorrowful. Throughout all the tracks, Houck employs pedal steel, strings, piano, and horns to give a Mexican-cantina sound, as Houck likes to put it, all with a tinge of experimentation which is a testament to the songcraft on display here. But plenty of artists have the ability to create music this enjoyable, though very few have the heart to take it to transcendent levels, which is why it all comes back to “Song for Zula”, a track so magnificent and resonant that it elevates everything around it to heights few albums can ever hope to achieve.
The final piece of my countdown puzzle is as always, my annual mixtape. Coming up with a songs of the year list is just too overhwhelming (hell, I have a hard enough time with the albums), so I like to put out a mix of the songs that defined the year in music for me. This year I managed to fit 18 songs into my 80 minute CD-R, but these are not necessarily my favorite 18 songs of the year. As a matter of fact, this was an especially tough year to figure out my mixtape because some of my favorite songs were just way too long and took up too much space. That’s the reason you won’t see any Titus Andronicus, Joanna Newsom, Sufjan, or LCD Soundsystem songs. There’s also some great songs I left off because the band had previously been on a mixtape and I wanted to get some new blood on to the mix this year.
Anyway, to the stats: As I already said, there’s 18 songs on this year’s mix. Only 5 of the songs come from albums that made my top 10, and 6 from 11 thru 25 albums. That means only 11 of the 18 songs come from albums in my top 25. That certainly has something to do with all the great tracks this year, but is also because, as I stated, I wanted to mix it up a little this year. (Pun intended? Yes.) The lowest ranked album with a song on the mix is “July Flame” from Laura Veirs’s album of the same name, which chimed in at #59 in my final rankings. I don’t have any songs from EPs, which is a rarity for my mixes.
So there you go. Below you can find the songs that will be spinning around my car’s cd player for the next few weeks, whenever I forget to bring my ipod with me. As I always remind people, this is not a ranking. The songs are listed in order of how they appeared on their respective albums. If you want to see my entire top 25 albums list in one easy place, head on over to my Amazon.com list and check it out (as well as all my lists for the past 10 years). Last, but not least, for the 3rd year in a row Amy Boyd has created my Mixtape album art for me. I’m taking care of her cat, so, it’s the least she could do. If you know her or ever happen to randomly meet her, tell her what an awesome job she did, once again.
[“World Sick” – Broken Social Scene :: Forgiveness Rock Record]
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[“Floating Vibes” – Surfer Blood :: Astro Coast]
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[“Go do” – Jónsi :: Go]
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[“Excuses” – The Morning Benders :: Big Echo]
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[“July Flame” – Laura Veirs :: July Flame]
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[“Airplanes” – Local Natives :: Gorilla Manor]
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[“Crash Years” – The New Pornographers :: Together]
#3) The National – High Violet [4AD; released 5/10/2010]
“I still owe money, to the money, to the money I owe”
“Bloodbuzz Ohio”
Growing up churched as I have, I’ve heard plenty of sermons that have had an impact on me, however, one of my favorites is a sermon I heard a couple times in college entitled “Ministry of the Mundane”. Without getting too preachy here, the sermon speaks to God’s presence in the smallest details in our lives and not just the huge events. (This sermon was used as a way to counter the huge Christian Revival events that pop up all over the place, especially the Bible Belt…but I digress.) What I loved about it is that it showed the significance of day to day events and the ability to get as much out of that as some huge “Look at me!” undertaking. Considering how much that speaks to me, it’s no wonder that The National have become one of my favorite bands, due to their “Music of the Mundane” as I shall forever now call it. The National sing about things that effect all of us, cause they have all been there too. Lead singer Matt Berninger used to work in a typical office job and those experiences have lead to his “blue collar” outlook on many of his tunes. It’s amazing what happens when you can relate to a band and what they’re singing about, and of course it doesn’t hurt that the music they write is damn good too. High Violet is the follow up to Boxer, my album of the year in 2007, and prior to Boxer The National had a tendency to release albums known as growers, meaning, you needed to put in the time in order for it to burrow under your skin. Boxer came along and was their most immediate release, but High Violet falls more into the “grower” category, and doesn’t suffer a single bit for it. There’s still the immediate pop songs such as “Bloodbuzz Ohio” and the Sufjan Stevens assisted “Afraid of Anyone”. However, also present are songs like “Sorrow” and “Little Faith” that are no less beautiful despite their lack of an obvious hook. What they do have though, is incredible and driving percussion, which is once again a great strength for the Brooklyn 5-piece. High Violet is the most mature release yet from this group, who as they age, have continually been able to find the influences to write their brooding anthems, something that must be easier said than done, because while writing about the mundane in our lives is not a groundbreaking idea, no one can seem to do it like The National.
[“Bloodbuzz Ohio” – High Violet]
#4) Joanna Newsom – Have One On Me [ Drag City; released 2/23/2010]
“Be at peace, baby, and be gone.”
“Baby Birch”
Listening to Joanna Newsom’s epic 2006 release Ys, you could sense what an accomplishment it was and that it certainly deserved to be considered one of the best releases that year, however it wasn’t an album that was easy to come back to. Consisting of only 5 tracks, Ys still clocked in at just under an hour thanks to its swirling songs that hovered around 10 minutes long. It truly was an album that worked best as one piece of art, basically a symphony expressed in 5 movements. There really was no where to jump in, and as brilliant as it was, it was an exhausting and overwhelming listen that took some effort. This is why when news broke that Newsom’s follow up album would actually be a triple album with over 2 hours of music, expectations were understandably reserved. However, with Have One On Me, Newsom took everything that made Ys an ambitious success and broke it into little pieces spread throughout 18 songs that the listener can drop in and listen for a while and not feel like he or she is missing any context. There are still plenty of lengthy tracks that harken back to Ys, such as the title track and “Kingfisher”, but for everyone of those, there’s a track like “Baby Birch” that, while sitting at almost 10 minutes long, goes by like a pop song thanks to it’s dearth of great moments spread throughout. Newsom’s patented harp playing and squeaky voice are still the prevalent feature of Have One On Me, as they should be, but also on display is her inspired piano playing, most notably on “Good Intentions Paving Co” and “Soft as Chalk” which give another glimpse into the many talents Newsom encompasses. Thanks to a renewed focus on song-structure, Have One On Me is a much more accessible release for Newsom, but one that doesn’t sacrifice the scope of her compositions. It almost comes across as what her greatest hits collection would sound like, accentuating all the unique preciousness, confidence, and lyrical ability that sets her apart from all other singer-songwriters.
We’re halfway through what has been a fantastic year for music, so it’s time for me to summarize 2010 in my usual Mid-year fashion. Despite the lack of posts here on the blog, I’ve still been keeping up with new releases just as much as I usually do (although it’s been harder to find the time to listen to them as intently as I want). With that said, this post is a very preliminary look on the music of 2010 and is all subject to change by the time I get to my end of the year list. But this is my initial jab at what the year has looked like for me at its mid-point.
Joanna Newsom
Top 10 albums (plus one) of 2010 (in order of release date):
Beach House – Teen Dream
It’s going to be hard for this one to not end up in my top 10 at the end of the year. As I said in my 1Q Review, I’ve never been a huge Beach House fan, but along comes Teen Dream which is easily my favorite Beach House release and the first one I truly love from start to finish. It was 2010’s first great release, and for me one of the year’s biggest surprises.
[“Norway” – Teen Dream]
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Local Natives – Gorilla Manor
Probably the year’s finest debut album comes from this Los Angeles quintet. It’s got a bit of Grizzly Bear, a dash of Fleet Foxes, some Vampire Weekend, and even a little of fellow Californians The Dodos, but they’re not blatantly ripping off their influences, which is refreshing. Granted, I’m not as big into this album as others, but it is an impressive release and the group does what they do very well. Their future is bright.
[“Sun Hands” – Gorilla Manor]
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Fang Island – Fang Island
I really can’t get over how much I love this album. Maybe it’s because it’s only half an hour long and is just incredibly fun to listen to with no pretensions. As busy as life can be, sometimes an album with no smoke or mirrors that gets straight to the point and just plain rocks is exactly what is needed. Fang Island’s debut could not have come out at a more perfect time.
[“Daisy” – Fang Island]
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Joanna Newsom – Have One on Me
And then on the flip side of the Fang Island album, you have Joanna Newsom’s epic triple LP which clocks in at over 2 hours. But the beauty of Have One on Me is that even with the time and effort required to give it a listen, it is quite accessible and is much easier to navigate than the albums predecessor, Ys. The multi-instrumentalist is on top of her game on this one and may have put out the best album of 2010.
[“Good Intentions Paving Co.” – Have One on Me]
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Titus Andronicus – The Monitor
Speaking of epic albums…nothing in 2010 can quite match on the “epic scale” what Titus Andronicus does on The Monitor. The album flows together as one glorious masterpiece that is extremely ambitious, and just so freaking huge. The blood, sweat, and tears put into the album from this young group is almost palpable throughout the listen. No easy task.
[“Four Score and Seven” – The Monitor]
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The Morning Benders – Big Echo
While Big Echo isn’t The Morning Benders debut album, it might as well be, because the improvement on this sophomore release from their previous work almost makes them indistinguishable from where they were. Much of that is thanks to the help from Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor who stepped up to produce this album, and man, you can hear the impact he had right from the start. They went from writing dinky little three minute generic pop songs to full-fledged sophisticated songwriters in a snap. Just watch this, and you’ll be an instant fan…guaranteed.
[“Excuses” – Big Echo]
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The Radio Dept. – Clinging to a Scheme
For fans of The Radio Dept., this album was anticipated for a long time. And I mean a long time. While their last release was only four years ago, the release date for this album just seemed to keep getting pushed back. And for a band that has been around in some form for 15 years to be sitting on only two full length album releases, patience had to be running thin for Radio Dept. diehards. Well, the Swedish pop group finally released Clinging to a Scheme and while it may have underwhelmed some fans expecting a bit more than 10 songs at 35 minutes, and disappointed those hoping for more of the lo-fi shoegaze tracks of their previous work, I think it’s an immensely enjoyable collection of finely tuned pop songs.
[“Heaven’s on Fire” – Clinging to a Scheme]
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Broken Social Scene – Forgiveness Rock Record
Another great release from the Canadian super-group, borrowing from their usual foray of indie-rockers all over the landscape, however this time it seems a little more of a condensed group as many Broken Social Scene mainstays only show up as guests. I think it works very well, as this is one of their most focused releases and for me can stand up against any of the band’s albums. While I do expect more of the Broken Social Scene Presents: albums to be done in the future, I really hope we don’t have to wait another 5 years for the next BSS release.
I mean honestly, they have released three straight masterpieces. High Violet may not be as immediate as Boxer, but it doesn’t take a backseat to that album in song-writing prowess by any means. They can do no wrong at this point and are easily one of the best American bands going today. It has a legit chance to make The National my first two-time winner of album of the year. My review covers it pretty well.
[“Afraid of Anyone” – High Violet]
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LCD Soundsystem – This is Happening
If this is indeed the final album under the LCD Soundsystem moniker for James Murphy, he’s sending it out in very fine fashion…although that shouldn’t really be a surprise. This is Happening is another excellent collection of Murphy’s dance-rock tunes with an opening twosome of “Dance Yrself Clean” and “Drunk Girls” which is possibly the finest openers of any album this year, with the former currently out in front for my favorite track of 2010.
[“Dance Yrself Clean” – This is Happening]
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The Gaslight Anthem – American Slang
The Gaslight Anthem took the Bruce Springsteen comparisons up a notch on their latest release, American Slang. The New Jersey quartet’s last album, The ’59 Sound, was quietly one of the best in 2008 and was such an homage to Springsteen that the Boss himself took some time out to perform on stage with the group. Well, with American Slang, The Gaslight Anthem have put together another set of pure American rock that expands on those influences especially in the vocals. This one doesn’t quite have the nostalgia and rock/garage-punk fusion that made The ’59 Sound such a brilliant release, but it’s still 10 fantastic rock songs full of hooks and the blue-collar charm that makes them so appealing in the first place.
[“American Slang” – American Slang]
Biggest Surprise:
Owen Pallett – Heartland
In all honesty, Teen Dream probably goes here, but I wanted to give it to something other than what mentioned above, so Heartland from Final Fantasy Owen Pallett gets this award. This may not have been a big surprise to others, but as I said in my 1Q Summary, I was never a big fan of Pallett’s previous work, so I didn’t expect to get into this album as much as I have.
[“Lewis Takes Action” – Heartland]
Biggest Disappointment:
Blitzen Trapper – Destroyer of the Void
Unfortunately, there were a few releases I could’ve put here, but I’ll go with the latest album from Blitzen Trapper. Their last album was soooo good and featured one of the best songs in the last few years in “Furr”, but this album is just blah, running short on memorable melodies and extremely boring. I was hoping for much more, but I think Furr may have been a high water mark for these guys because none of their other stuff even comes close to matching it.
It may be hard to call this one underrated considering at this point it hasn’t really even been, uhh, rated at all. Now, clearly there have been reviews, but as of this point there is no page on Metacritic. The reviews I’ve seen haven’t been bad, it’s just I would have expected more attention considering how well their debut EP was received last year. With an internet sensation in “It Gets Your Body Movin'”, which even managed to find its way on my 2009 Mixtape, I expected Wild Smile to be one of the more highly anticipated releases of the year, but upon its release there hasn’t really been much talk. And that’s a shame because it really is an impressive debut album and expands on the sound of their EP in ways I wasn’t really expecting.
[“Black Sheep” – Wild Smile]
Most Overrated:
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti – Before Today
Isn’t it interesting how as soon as this whole glo-fi/chillwave craze is all the rage, the critics are all of the sudden all about Ariel Pink, who has been making this kind of music for years? Granted, Before Today is his best produced album and features his best work, but I guess I just don’t quite get the genre. It’s enjoyable, but deserving of album of the year talk?…No. (However, “Round and Round” is pretty fantastic.)
[“Round and Round” – Before Today]
Need to Give More Listens:
Sleigh Bells – Treats
I almost put this as my most overrated, but I decided to hold off on that and give it a few more listens because I really don’t think I’ve given it enough of a shot. Pretty much everyone has this as one of the top albums of 2010 and I’ve seen it called the “future of music”, so I should give it the benefit of the doubt and give it a few more tries. However, it’s not out of the question that when all is said and done, I’ll indeed consider it overrated. I will say this…it is freakin’ LOUD.
In my write up for my pick of 2007’s album of the year, I remarked that “no album grabs you by the heart and hits you in the gut like The National’s Boxer.” Three years later, I may have to re-phrase that to say no band grabs you by the heart and hits you in the gut as The National, because with High Violet, The National have once again created an album full of haunting anthems that burrow beneath your skin and become implanted in your every thought. No band does somber, yet somehow not depressing, like Brooklyn’s The National. There is a subtle bit of hope in all of their tunes that gives it a sense of majesty that really can’t be matched by any band. It’s an accomplishment that is truly remarkable and probably doesn’t get the credit deserves, but with High Violet, the band’s achievements are becoming harder and harder to ignore.
Much like Boxer, The National use High Violet to tackle such themes of urban alienation and other concerns of the middle class as those day to day tasks become mundane and fears of a life wasted start to creep into one’s mind. However, whereas Boxer‘s subject matter tended towards uncertainty during a transition period, High Violet is more concerned about the after effects of the transition and trying to find the vibrant colors in what may seem like a dull colorless existence (I mean, just look at the cover art.)
Musically, High Violet isn’t breaking any new ground for the group, but it does refine and improve on all the band’s strengths. Matt Berninger still doesn’t encompass enough of a range to be considered a great singer, but his baritone vocals remain a perfect fit for the moody music that backs him up. Only Berninger could pack a sadness into a string of “doo doo doo”s like he does on “Lemonworld”, and the vulnerability in his voice makes it seem like there’s as much being said in those short fillers than most bands try to say on a complete album. But with any National album, it’s those two set of brothers behind Berninger that take the band to it’s level of immense grandeur. As usual, this starts with the rhythm section and drummer Bryan Devendorf. While poor or uninspired drumming doesn’t necessarily kill a song, used effectively it can absolutely take it to new levels and The National have perfected that with Devendorf’s driving percussion. Other than Bernigner’s voice, there is probably not a more distinctive part of The National’s sound than it’s drumming, and it’s done in such a subtle way that it doesn’t overbear the rest of the music one bit. It’s truly mesmerizing how well these five guys work as a quintet.
The album’s most triumphant moments comes from the Sufjan Stevens assisted “Afraid of Anyone” and first single “Bloodbuzz Ohio”, which both rival anything the group has ever done. They’re the most immediate and memorable songs on an album full of intricate compositions that take a little more effort from the listener to appreciate, but don’t sacrifice any of their depth. It’s not all perfect, however, and unfortunately the flaws show up on the bookends of the disc. Opening track “Terrible Love” is a wonderful song and after being debuted on Jimmy Fallon, was thought of to be one of the album highlights, but for some reason the band ravished the song with questionable production. For a band known for its precise songwriting and meticulousness during the production process, there’s no doubt this was done on purpose. But intentional or not, why they decided to take such a promising song and muck it up with muddy production is beyond me. Likewise, while “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks” is a fine song, it feels unnecessarily tacked on to the end. The album would have been fine being capped off at 10 tracks and having “England” close it out. But when my biggest quibbles are production techniques and song placement, it’s clear that I’m grasping for straws when trying to find the album’s imperfections.
High Violet is another masterful release from this group of unassuming sorrowful rockers, their third such masterpiece in a row. While Boxer one upped its predecessorAlligator, it’s hard to say if High Violet has done the same to Boxer. But when your predecessor was one of the best albums of the last decade, merely matching up to it is an accomplishment of its own and I have no qualms saying High Violet has done at least that.
Posted by Hawkins 
A Round of Sound 