The National

Just when I thought I couldn't love The National any more, they go and knock my socks off again, as depicted here playing "Terrible Love" from the new album. (High Violet, due May 11th, in case you didn't already know.)

In many ways they're like a white-collar Bruce Springsteen, which paradoxically makes them seem more authentic. (At least to my college-educated suburban whiteboy ass.) Some bands end up aping their influences more and more closely as time goes by, and losing any extra authenticity they once had, and "Terrible Love" itself initially seems like a Springsteen retread. But as it gains in intensity, it becomes both more personal and more universal. The charging finish is on a par with "Abel" or "Mr. November," and the lyrics sound absurdly surreal and nonsensical--until you realize the terrible love is not romantic but alcoholic. So the song ends up feeling gritty and real; it isn't new territory lyrically, but they cover the old ground in ways that make it feel fresh.

"Blood Buzz, Ohio" ends up being perhaps even more broad in its appeal; it's insistent refrain talks of how "I still owe money to the money, to the money I owe" and, like all true classics, it makes you want to sing along before you're done with your first listen. (If there's a lyric out there today that better captures the zeitgeist, I haven't heard it.)

As far as I'm concerned, this band is already on par with Radiohead and Wilco in their sonic depictions of life in the early 21st Century, and if High Violet is as good as Alligator and Boxer, they'll hopefully start getting the recognition they really deserve.