A somewhat alternative The National collection. It contains remarkable B-sides, extras and album tracks. With two exquisite recordings made for Spotify. The ‘influencer’ playlist is an excuse to collect up a bunch of stuff that sounds like it comes from the same club; resigned melancholy and expression of what I think we are saying, could be love.
THE NATIONAL: UNDER THE INFLUENCE
As I often can with artists & bands that have a profound impact on my ears (and the rest of me), I can recall precisely the events that pulled me towards The National (with all the sense of ‘inevitability’ of Thanos himself).
First contact came via the unlikely and now severely antiquated vessel of Uncut magazine’s ‘sampler’ CD (they still do these I checked). This particular one contained the track ‘About Today’ and I was struck dumb by it, hit by the sheer gut-wrenching emotion of it. Whatever other songs might have been on that CD were obliterated by it. The looping guitar riff, the rumble of the timpani, the mournful strings and then that lyric & vocal. Oh man. First contact with Matt Berninger and you really feel that emotional power come at you. Either that, or you may be quite dead.
It wasn’t plain sailing from there. I eagerly purchased The National’s next album, Boxer (again on CD) and if not disappointed, wasn’t truly gripped. I guess the band was still forming its sound at that point. This was further evidenced by seeing them live in the tiny London venue that was The Astoria on Tottenham Court Road (quick shout out to the Music Venue Trust and everything they are doing to stop more small music venues going under the ball & chain). I took along two very close muso friends (both Song Sommelier curators as it happens) to that show after persuading them The National was the next best thing since XTC/Radiohead/Julian Cope/sliced bread/the trolley case. When they opened the show with a blistering version of ‘Mistaken For Strangers’ I felt vindicated, and the shivers went down the spine at how it sounded live – especially those twin-brother-twin guitars. But the gig somehow slowly collapsed in on itself, with an unevenly paced set and a then too shy Matt Berninger, who would perform sections of the songs with his back to the audience – never a good thing. We didn’t stay until the end. Incidentally, I discovered sometime afterwards the most thrilling guitar part on the recording of Mistaken For Strangers was not by the Dresden brothers but by bassist Scott Devendorf.
Sometimes music is more rewarding when you give artists a second chance. With The National that was the High Violet album, when everything fell into place. I had been on a trip to the South West of England, under a vague idea that I was ready to move some way towards Cornwall. It wasn’t a great experience, and the only solution was to put the headphones on and look out the train window for the entire journey back to London. Well, the next time you find yourself with time to stare out the window, may I recommend the soundtrack (well go ahead and try this playlist of course, but): The National’s High Violet. Viola! It’s everything at once – a tonic, a salve, a lift, a sort of deep sigh of resignation. The album was on constant rotation for what remained of that year, and it remains an occasional necessity ever since. I think it was possibly the lyric in ‘Conversation 16’ that did it: the idea of trying not to “wonder what the weather will be, while living on coffee & flowers” (decoded: don’t attempt to predict or forecast your fate, while living your life in random fashion) as well as the whole idea of just fumbling on through in the way us humans do. It is us introverted types that are left to think our way through this unfathomable journey of life, which Matt Berninger speaks to with a poetic eloquence.
The band itself is the perfect organism – propelled by Bryan Devendorf’s motorised drumming and a symbiotic bass playing from brother Scott. And then the twin-brother-twin-guitars and musical arrangements of the Dessner twins Bryce and Aaron. And then the magic weapon that is Berninger. He is at his best on the subject of relationships, the human condition and the voices that speak to us in our own heads. The National is less music for the masses and more for the morose. But the thoughtful, sensitive morose. We are talking winter music: rainy wet, cold and windy - almost ready for Christmas. To the uninitiated, The National are sometimes mistaken as miserablists. An easy enough mistake to make, but quite wrong. The National do not make music to cry into your beer. It’s a very different blend of melancholy that is yes, sometimes sad, but also funny. The National’s songs and Berninger’s lyrics, are the musical equivalent of John Cheever short stories. The very same Cheever that is name-checked in Carin At The Liqueur Store:
Carin at the liquor store, I can't wait to see you
I'm walking around like I was the one who found dead John Cheever
In the house of love
Music by The National is introspective, but dead honest. It is bleak at times and exposes humans as the fools we can be. But at least all the mess can be expressed through poetical lyrics that often fall back on what we all need – the company of the ones we love the most. Even then things are not perfect. At their very best, as on our playlist closer and one of my personal favourites, Pink Rabbits, from the album Trouble Will Find Me.
I'm so surprised you want to dance with me now
You always said I held you way too high off the ground…
You didn't see me I was falling apart
I was a television version of a person with a broken heart
I’m comforted to find I’m not the only one to be touched by Pink Rabbits. On Soundcloud you can find over a dozen covers of the song (Caitlin Rose does my favourite). In his wonderful blog Beautiful Song of the Week, (no. 352) Andrew Moore is reminded of a very serious news anchor from his childhood. The National can do that to you if you’re not too careful.
Anyways, put the playlist on and succumb would be my advice. And, don’t cry into your beer. Mix yourself a Pink Rabbit instead. Sipping, not skipping, is really the best way.
This playlist is a loosely interpreted influence playlist – more an excuse to compile a somewhat alternative National collection. It contains two exquisite recordings made for Spotify (sadly therefore not available to non-Spotifiers but there are few of you left!). The companion ‘influencer’ playlist is also an excuse – to collect up a bunch of stuff that sounds, to these ears, like it’s out of the same camp of resigned melancholy and expression of what I think we are saying, could be love.
Recipe for Pink Rabbit. Courtesy Punch. Please sign-up via the ‘About’ page to receive your exclusive Pink Rabbit artwork!
You can learn more about The National’s songs including Mistaken For Strangers on the very wonderful Coffee & Flowers podcast.