I heartily agree with this take
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Doffs cap
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Not sure about this one. Sounds like one of the lesser tracks from IAETF. Hope this isn’t one of the stronger ones from the album.
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Getting slightly bored of this waffle like “it feels like a really important song for the future of the band” by the guitarist when it sounds like it could have come from any of their albums from the past 10 years
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The album has a track called “The Hills of Aberfeldy”, there’s no way that’s going to be anything other than atrocious.
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I don’t hate the new stuff but nothing has excited me. Think I prefer Matt’s lower register than this strained vocal he’s doing but musically it reminds me more of their older albums which is nice
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Wish I liked the new tune more. Its just another mid-tempo, low effort affair. Sounds like something they knocked out in an afternoon. Production feels off too. Why handcuff your drummer like this?
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I see that this band still really suck
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Currently having an internal debate of “were the National actually always pretty bland and milquetoast…or is this new stuff (including preceding album too) just a step down in quality?”
You’d think it would clearly be the latter…but even older albums aren’t holding my interest for long now (with the exception of Alligator). Were their detractors always right?
Nah, that OR album was a bit looser/jazzier in style, imo. Pretty solid album that, was a bit disappointed that Will Sheff’s solo effort last year didn’t continue in that vein (and the last OR album was, well, shite).
Guys, sometimes good bands get worse by album 8 and after - who’d have guessed it
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This track was a bit of a banger to be fair to it
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When you listen to the classic albums, there’s obviously that more youthful energy and freshness. But the other thing is how much they made use of repetition in their songs - repetition not just of choruses but pre-choruses. Thats an attribute that though it paid off well, it adds to how repetitive or bland another The National song can be.
I understand the need to widen their sound, but writing songs where the drummer could practically do sudoku whilst playing was a massive own goal. Thats a world class drummer there, but he is practically on furlough since the Trouble Will Find Me era.
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Have to say whenever the new stuff comes on the radio I still enjoy it.
It’s a bit easy listening to compared to old stuff but sometimes it’s exactly what I’m in the mood for
The second half of Eucalyptus is nice, partly because the whispy electronics go away. It’s the first of these I can see being fun live.
Always thought they were best at representing middle class ennui…it figures that it would seep into their sound too at some point.
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