As I embarked upon the quest to discuss my favorite albums of the past decade, I knew that I would have some tough choices to make. None was more difficult than choosing between the top two. Both choices changed the way I listened to music in the past decade and both bands represented have carved out permanent places at the top of my daily play lists. The lyrics contained in each of the albums have even come to pepper my everyday speech. I can't think of contemporary artists that I love any more than the two that top this list. I have had the fortune of seeing each band multiple times live in concert, and can't wait to see each of them again.
Without further delay, I present the runner-up for Decade's Best album...
NUMBER 2:
The National - Boxer
Easily topping my Best of 2007 list (which really only lived in my head and on a mix CD, since The Ideological Cuddle didn't exist yet), Boxer entered my consciousness a little while after the record's street date. Once it did, though, it didn't leave... it still hasn't. This album stands as a perfect amalgam of everything The National does well as a band - the pinnacle of their collective songwriting, lyrics, and sound. But what exactly is "The National Sound"? This is something somewhat tough to define.
The National is clearly a band that is difficult to pigeonhole. It's hard to tell someone not familiar with the band what they sound like. You can't just say, "Oh yeah, The National... they sound like...". You'll come up empty. Here are the reasons :
1. Matt Berninger's Voice - A baritone unlike any other in indie rock, Berninger's voice reaches peak power when he sings in hushed, lush tones, that one reviewer deemed to have "dark, chocolate richness". Mmmm... I know one Cuddle reader who is drooling already. He can reach moments of absolute screeching power as well - as evidenced by his coda on "Squalor Victoria" during the band's performance at the Phoenix Concert Hall in Toronto in October, 2007 (more on this show later).
2. The Lyrics - Angular and puzzling in the best possible way, the choices for this are almost endless. I could just post the entirety of Boxer's lyrics and comment line by line (as evidenced by how long it took me to choose the perfect lyric for this post's title). The band (particularly Berninger - the main lyricist) knows how to give the listener a visual image from words. The lyrics aren't just straightforward, either. The songs use much allusion and metaphor, being beautifully obtuse in their references. Some choice favorites:
From "Slow Show" :
"You know I dreamed about you/
For twenty-nine years before I saw you"
From "Apartment Story" (my favorite, by the way) :
"Hold ourselves together with our arms around the stereo for hours/
While it sings to itself or whatever it does/
When it sings to itself of its long lost loves/
I'm getting tied, I'm forgetting why"
And:
"We'll stay inside 'til somebody finds us/
Do whatever the TV tells us/
Stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz for days"
From "Start A War" :
"You were always weird, but I never had to hold you by the edges like I do now"
Beautiful, beguiling, mysterious, forlorn, and absolutely breath-taking.
3. The Extra Instrumentation - The brothers Dessner are the driving musical force in the band, fronting the group with bass (Aaron) and guitar (Bryce). There is quite a lot of acoustic playing on the record, and the sounds that lend the album that special quality are strings and gentle brass. The string arrangements (beautifully brought to fruition by the Clogs' Padma Newsome - who accompanied the band on that fateful live date in October, 2007 in Toronto) never overpower the rest of the band, but give an emotional resonance that underscores Berninger's voice perfectly. There are touches of brass instrumentation on songs like "Racing Like A Pro" and "Fake Empire" that seem to lift the artistic level on the songs to new sonic highs.
Many songs on Boxer seem to build to a crest and peak, without giving up all of their power at the start, especially "Fake Empire", which starts with sparse piano and Berninger's voice and is gradually augmented with drums, then guitar, then bass, then backing vocals, then strings and horns. Others, like "Green Gloves" never rise above a whisper, and present their message through a dream-like quality.
The centerpiece of the record is clearly "Apartment Story", a snapshot of a couple coming to the strange realization that the world outside is invading their cocooned lives. The drum beat propels the band forward (just try to tap it out while singing the tune - very deceptively difficult), the band falls in behind it, and Berninger is hypnotic in his delivery, especially in the song's resolution lyric, "We'll be alright, we have our looks and perfume on".
A word must be interjected about The National's live presence. I've caught them twice - both in Toronto. The first date was, as mentioned earlier, in October of 2007 at the Phoenix, a venue that holds about 1000. It was packed to the rafters. The crowd sat mesmerized by Berninger, clad in a gray suit, occasionally sipping from a bottle of wine. By the encore, "Mr. November", Berninger was climbing on the speakers, bellowing out to the crowd - "I WON'T FUCK US OVER, I'M MR. NOVEMBER!!!". There was something essentially intimate about this show that cannot be replicated, the collected masses hooked on The National for life. My second live encounter with the band occurred this past May at the Kool Haus. We were lucky enough to catch the band on their short Spring jaunt prior to hitting the summer festival circuit. The venue was a definite upgrade in terms of numbers (holding about 2200 folks), in order to account for the band's rising star status, but lost something in terms of intimacy (as the Kool Haus amounts to a warehouse with a stage and a bar). The band was phenomenal none-the-less, adding a live 4 piece horn section to augment their sound. They previewed new tunes from their forthcoming album (hopefully to hit stores in the first half of this year), but leaned heavily on songs from their 2007 magnum opus.
Brooding and dark, Boxer is NOT the album to listen to if you're looking to get in the mood for a night of partying, unless it's by yourself with a bottle of scotch, lamenting one's daily troubles. Of course, pity-filled parties for one are what we all need once in a while. Lift a glass to the king of the moody, murky, weird and witty. Enjoy this quintessentially quiet masterpiece with your headphones on and your mind open. Here's where to start:
With a lump in my throat and a large sigh, I leave you, dear readers, to calculate which modern masterpiece might top the Ideological Cuddle's Decade's Best list.
Until next time, raise a glass in quiet seclusion and listen...
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