Thursday, January 09, 2014

14 Reviews for 2014: #8, The National - Boxer (2007)

This was an Eric Lax suggestion.  (Aside:  there appears to be a "deep voiced lead singer" pattern in his suggestions [except for Alt J, which I promise I will get to], which leads me to believe that Eric was strongly influenced by Joy Division.)

But I digress.  I was really concerned about this on the first listen -- the first track is unremarkable.  But then "Mistaken for Strangers" takes over, and I am there.  It is compelling; the best way to describe it would be to say "it insists without being insistent."  There is tension and beauty wrapped into low to mid tempo rock.  It's the highlight song of an very decent album -- the best analogy I could be to make would be to describe it as the "Rise" to American Music Club's album Everclear.  

The National - "Mistaken for Strangers"


A precisely considered, meandering rock/pop travelogue, this is definitely worth checking out.


CD Placement Rating:  A CD Rack album that "Mistaken for Strangers" puts on its shoulders and carries to Portable CD Case land.

- Snilch

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