The National

[solace]

The National: Trouble Will Find Me


TROUBLE WILL FIND ME, the most self-assured collection of songs produced by the National in its 14-year career, is a tribute to fully evolved artistic vision—and, somewhat less mystically, to sleep deprivation. Last January, following a twenty-two month tour to promote the band’s previous record, HIGH VIOLET, guitarist Aaron Dessner returned home to Brooklyn, where the fitfulness of his newborn daughter threw Aaron into a more or less sustained fugue state—“sleepless and up all the time,” as he puts it. Punch-drunk, he shuffled into the band’s studio (situated in Aaron’s backyard), where he amused himself writing musical fragments that he then sent over to vocalist Matt Berninger. Recalls Matt of Aaron, “He’d be so tired while he was playing his guitar and working on ideas that he wouldn’t intellectualize anything. In the past, he and Aaron’s twin brother, Bryce would be reluctant to send me things that weren’t in their opinion musically interesting—which I respected, but often those would be hard for me to connect to emotionally. This time around, they sent me sketch after sketch that immediately got me on a visceral level."

In truth, the band, which includes bassist Scott Devendorf and his brother Bryan on drums, hadn’t planned on recording new music for at least another year or two. The HIGH VIOLET tour represented a quantum leap in The National’s trajectory; the venues got bigger and bigger, and the band felt the pressure to deliver the shows to larger crowds. Matt says, “We enjoyed it, but it was never easy. We always reminded ourselves that all of this is really fragile—that if we don’t deliver in, say, some festival show in Europe somewhere, we could start to slide.” Nor was returning to the studio likely to be cathartic, given the fact that The National’s last two recording sessions have been emotional high-wire acts in which the perfectionism of the five members—particularly Aaron and Matt—sometimes made for a tense time all around.

That didn’t happen this time. The post-HIGH VIOLET sound Matt was seeking, says Aaron, “was more airy, less uptight and anxious. He sent me a lot of Cat Stevens, Neil Young, Dylan and David Bowie. And Bryce and I wanted a more relaxed and open sound too. We’d been getting deeper into the world of composed music in the last few years and developing more of an interest in classic songwriting.” The Dessner twins’ pursuits dovetailed with that of Matt, who says, “I went through a big Roy Orbison phase. I listened to a lot of him. His song structures are innovative, unconventional, yet somehow still effortless.” The Devendorf brothers then supplied their insistent, intricate backbeats, and what emerged was a series of distinctly timeless musical narratives.

This isn’t to suggest that the songs The National wrote and recorded last winter at Clubhouse studios in Rhinebeck, New York qualify as simple. In addition to the self-lacerating impressionistic scattershots that are Matt’s lyrical stock in trade, they feature time signatures, mixed meter and melody frameworks more challenging than anything the band has previously attempted. Still, TROUBLE WILL FIND ME possesses a directness, a coherency and—dare it be said about such an unpredictable band—an approachability that suggests The National has at long last located its emotional target.

It’s strange that a band like this would be feeling insecure. Few groups have sustained such credibility—with audiences as well as critics—as authors of a sound that is simultaneously original, witty, moving and unforgettable. After the success of their fourth record, BOXER, The National sealed their artistic reputation in 2010 with the widely acclaimed HIGH VIOLET and spent the next two years delivering sellout performances around the world. Along the way, Aaron and Bryce continued their individual side projects (Aaron producing records for such bands as Sharon Van Etten and Local Natives, Bryce composing for Kronos Quartet and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, among others) while the band as a whole devoted work to Tibet House, Red Hot and other charities. During the 2012 campaign cycle, The National performed at several get-out-the-vote concerts in Ohio and warmed up an Iowa rally for President Obama. Adding a new creative wrinkle, Matt’s younger brother Tom Berninger filmed “Mistaken for Strangers”—a hilarious and affecting documentary of Tom’s less-than-successful stint as the band’s assistant tour manager during the HIGH VIOLET tour—which will open the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this April.

But, Matt confesses, “I feel like for the past ten years we’d been chasing something, wanting to prove something. Early on we were labeled as alt-country, sleepy miserablists, and that stung, especially because it was partly true. So for a long time, we were motivated in our songwriting to prove that wrong. We had a lot of chips on our shoulders. And this chase was about trying to disprove our own insecurities. After touring HIGH VIOLET, I think we felt like we’d finally gotten there. Now we could relax—not in terms of our own expectations, but we didn’t have to prove our identity any longer.”

From beginning to end, TROUBLE WILL FIND ME possesses the effortless and unself-conscious groove of a downstream swimmer. It’s at times lush and at others austere, suffused with insomniacal preoccupations that skirt despair without succumbing to it. There are alluring melodies, and the murderously deft undercurrent supplied by the Devendorfs. There are songs that seem (for Matt anyway) overtly sentimental—among them, the Simon & Garfunkel-esque “Fireproof,” “I Need My Girl” (with Matt’s unforgettable if throwaway reference to a party “full of punks and cannonballers”) and “I Should Live In Salt” (which Aaron composed as a send-up to the Kinks and which Matt wrote about his brother). While a recognition of mortality looms in these numbers, they’re buoyed by a kind of emotional resoluteness—“We’ll all arrive in heaven alive”—that will surprise devotees of Matt’s customary wry fatalism. Then there are the songs that Aaron describes as “songs you could dance to—more fun, or at least The National’s version of fun.” These include “Demons”—a mordant romp in 7/4, proof that bleakness can actually be rousing—and the haunting “Humiliation,” in which the insistent locomotion of Bryan’s snarebeat is offset by Matt’s semi-detached gallows rumination: “If I die this instant/taken from a distance/they will probably list it down among other things around town.”

Finally there are songs—like “Pink Rabbits” and the lilting “Slipped” (the latter termed by Aaron “the kind of song we’ve always wanted to write”)—that aspire to be classics, with Orbison-like melodic geometry. In these songs, as well as in “Heavenfaced,” Matt emerges from his self-described “comfort zone of chant-rock” and glides into a sonorous high register of unexpected gorgeousness. The results are simultaneously breakthrough and oddly familiar, the culmination of an artistic journey that has led The National both to a new crest and, somehow, back to their beginnings—when, says Aaron, “our ideas would immediately click with each other. It’s free-wheeling again. The songs on one level are our most complex, and on another they’re our most simple and human. It just feels like we’ve embraced the chemistry we have.”

[solace]

Trouble Will Find Me, The National’s new album will be released on 4AD on May 20th & 21st. This is the sixth studio album for the Brooklyn band, and follows 2010’s critical and commercial success High Violet. The album is the most self-assured collection of songs produced by The National in its 14-year career. In an interview with UK’s UNCUT Magazine, front man Matt Berninger described the songs as more “immediate and visceral” than their previous work. Trouble Will Find Me possesses a directness, a coherency and an approachability that suggests The National are at their most confident.

After a 22-month tour following the release of High Violet the band returned home. Regardless of plans to wait to record new music for another year or two, guitarist Aaron Dessner began working on sketches of new songs that the other members were too inspired by to not fully realize. Matt confesses, “For the past ten years we’d been chasing something, wanting to prove something. And this chase was about trying to disprove our own insecurities. After touring High Violet, I think we felt like we’d finally gotten there. Now we could relax—not in terms of our own expectations but we didn’t have to prove our identity any longer.” The results are simultaneously breakthrough and oddly familiar, the culmination of an artistic journey that has led The National both to a new crest and, somehow, back to their beginnings—when, says Aaron, “our ideas would immediately click with each other. It’s free-wheeling again. The songs on one level are our most complex, and on another they’re our most simple and human. It just feels like we’ve embraced the chemistry we have.” The album was recorded at Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, NY. Trouble Will Find Me was self-produced and mixed by Craig Silvey with additional mixing from Peter Katis and Marcus Paquin.

In advance of the release, the documentary Mistaken For Strangers will premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival as the festival opener on April 17th. The film, directed by Tom Berninger, follows The National on its biggest tour to date. Newbie roadie Tom (lead singer Matt Berninger’s younger brother) is a heavy metal and horror movie enthusiast, and can’t help but put his own spin on the experience. Inevitably, Tom’s moonlighting as an irreverent documentarian creates drama on the road. The film is a touching look at two very different brothers and an entertaining story of artistic aspiration.

[zeb]

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/ ... 2zl42.html

[ridleybradout]

The National are playing the Sydney Opera House forecourt this weekend. Had to give this show a miss but cool to see it's streaming live on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/liveatthehouse

[bodysnatcher]

[psychobain]

full set

any way to download it? hd if possible

[ridleybradout]

full set

any way to download it? hd if possible

4k Video Downloader FTW

[psychobain]

awesome...now how do i cut the first minutes? (nothing happens)

[VinylGuy]

These guys were awesome on SNL.

[LuNY]

Solid tune

[ridleybradout]

My thesis-writing procrastination has yielded yet another compilation/remaster



Download link

The National
Sydney Opera House
Sydney, Australia
8th February 2014


Remastering and artwork by ridleybradout
Cover photo by Daniel Boud
Thanks to jerpaa for original capture

Lineage: YouTube webstream (720p) > downloaded .ts segments (mplayer + batch script) > TSSplitter (join)
> tsMuxerGUI > 251 Kbps AAC > WAV > Nero Wave Editor (equalizing, track splits, fades) > WAV > FLAC


TRACKLIST:

01 Intro
02 Don't Swallow The Cap
03 I Should Live In Salt
04 Mistaken For Strangers
05 Bloodbuzz Ohio
06 Demons
07 Sea Of Love
08 Hard To Find
09 Afraid Of Everyone
10 Conversation 16
11 Squalor Victoria
12 I Need My Girl
13 This Is The Last Time
14 Lean
15 Abel
16 Slow Show
17 Appartment Story
18 Pink Rabbits
19 England
20 Graceless
21 About Today
22 Fake Empire
23 Encore Break
24 Learning (Perfume Genius cover)
25 Humiliation
26 Mr November
27 Terrible Love
28 Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

[given2trade]

This was written up for a twitlonger but I copy/pasted it here so that's why it might read odd.

I surprised E with tickets to one of our favorite bands, The National, in LA at Shrine. Shrine is a 3000 person theater with a small pit in the front that's usually GA while rest of venue has seats. For this show, it had seats but the seats were "first come first serve" as they were showing a documentary about the band that was directed by the lead singer's brother. I somehow got PIT tickets via Ticketmaster and then somehow E and I were the first ones into the venue (got lucky doors) and we had the 2 seats dead center front row.

Movie was good. Concert was going to start 30 min later and immediately everyone got up from their seats to try and get a good spot "at the stage" (for people that were in the pit). E and I got right up to the front, center. Band comes out and we're literally 3 feet from Matt the lead singer as there was no security separating the band from the audience. First song comes on and the sounds is AWFUL. And I mean awful. We could barely here any vocals and all we could hear is one guitar. It was unlistenable. By 2nd second we decided we would try to go to the way back of the pit (and give up our awesome spots) to see if we could hear better. We did but it was still bad. We met another guy there that was also pissed and he said he was going to go into the Orchestra and see if it's better. He came back and told us it was so we followed him half way up the Orchestra until we saw a seat or two that was empty on the isle. Everyone was standing mind you but we were just looking for a spot that wouldn't piss people off. There was an old man maybe 65 or 70 dressed nicely and I asked him if it was ok if we stood there as we were "literally" front row center but couldn't hear a thing. Who ever heard of someone trying to sneak BACK in a concert? He said it was ok. A couple minutes later he goes "do you like this band?" and I said yes, very much, and he goes "well the lead singer is my son". Haha. And pointed to the women next to him and said "and that's his mother". We spent the whole show there while the dad occasionally made a funny comment like "this is my favorite song on the new record". At one point Matt the lead singer comes out and walks up and down the isle singing and his mom is filming it on her iphone. The whole thing was adorable.

At the end, we said goodbye and thanks. Was one of the odder concert experiences I've ever had. Who goes from front row center to halfway back standing next to the lead singer's parents?

[psychobain]

You can hear the song Hush (Theme from AMC's Turn) here:

http://tcwfans.tumblr.com/page/2

[psychobain]

Today you were far away
and I didn't ask you why
What could I say
I was far away
You just walked away
and I just watched you
What could I say

How close am I to losing you

[4/5]

This was written up for a twitlonger but I copy/pasted it here so that's why it might read odd.

I surprised E with tickets to one of our favorite bands, The National, in LA at Shrine. Shrine is a 3000 person theater with a small pit in the front that's usually GA while rest of venue has seats. For this show, it had seats but the seats were "first come first serve" as they were showing a documentary about the band that was directed by the lead singer's brother. I somehow got PIT tickets via Ticketmaster and then somehow E and I were the first ones into the venue (got lucky doors) and we had the 2 seats dead center front row.

Movie was good. Concert was going to start 30 min later and immediately everyone got up from their seats to try and get a good spot "at the stage" (for people that were in the pit). E and I got right up to the front, center. Band comes out and we're literally 3 feet from Matt the lead singer as there was no security separating the band from the audience. First song comes on and the sounds is AWFUL. And I mean awful. We could barely here any vocals and all we could hear is one guitar. It was unlistenable. By 2nd second we decided we would try to go to the way back of the pit (and give up our awesome spots) to see if we could hear better. We did but it was still bad. We met another guy there that was also pissed and he said he was going to go into the Orchestra and see if it's better. He came back and told us it was so we followed him half way up the Orchestra until we saw a seat or two that was empty on the isle. Everyone was standing mind you but we were just looking for a spot that wouldn't piss people off. There was an old man maybe 65 or 70 dressed nicely and I asked him if it was ok if we stood there as we were "literally" front row center but couldn't hear a thing. Who ever heard of someone trying to sneak BACK in a concert? He said it was ok. A couple minutes later he goes "do you like this band?" and I said yes, very much, and he goes "well the lead singer is my son". Haha. And pointed to the women next to him and said "and that's his mother". We spent the whole show there while the dad occasionally made a funny comment like "this is my favorite song on the new record". At one point Matt the lead singer comes out and walks up and down the isle singing and his mom is filming it on her iphone. The whole thing was adorable.

At the end, we said goodbye and thanks. Was one of the odder concert experiences I've ever had. Who goes from front row center to halfway back standing next to the lead singer's parents?

This is a pretty great post.

[given2trade]

Thanks. Was surprised nobody commented on it. Probably the coolest concert experience I've had in a long time.

[bodysnatcher]

really cool story

[Revelator]

What a lovely story, his parents must be pretty damn proud.

[Chris_H_2]

This sounds exactly like my experience at one of the Chicago Theatre shows (well, not the standing-next-to-Matt's parents part). We were front row between Matt and the Bryce. All you could hear was Bryce's guitar. Terrible. They had the amps turned WAY up and mic'ed them up pretty well that it drowned out every other band member, including Matt's vocals. How have they not figured this out?

[given2trade]

They had huge grins the whole time. And it wasn't just for Matt; their other son was premiering his movie about the band that night too.