Trouble Will Find Me - The National (2013)

For whatever reason, I equated The National with REM when they came out. They don’t sound all that similar, but something about their approach to lyrics and expression made their first few albums feel the way REM made me feel. Matt Berninger’s lyrics are clearer and a lot funnier in places, but I could never kill the connection in my head.

I think I didn’t react well to this one when it came out because I wasn’t ready to think of the group as more than an indie band. I still wanted them to be my new early REM. When you put this one on expecting tense, terse, gloomy rock, you get disappointed because it’s very mellow and pretty. But considering who I know them to be now–a very elegant and expressive band that isn’t bound by genre conventions–this record is a lot easier to get into. Somewhat ironically, they grew over several albums to display what made me love REM: the ability to change and mature as individuals and as a band and not apologize for it. So they broke all my expectations, convinced me they were right, and then I end up thinking of them as the new REM for completely different reasons. My lizard brain is weird sometimes.

Recontextualized outside of all my ridiculous overthink, this is a legitimately great album. The sound is consistent throughout, but never repeats itself. The lyrics are, as always, personable but challenging, human to the furthest degree. The band around Berninger go from languid acoustic reflection to driving, rumbling modern rock.

It’s worth putting expecations on hold and just letting this one pour over you.

Tracks I Liked (even though there isn’t really a bad track here)

I Should Live In Salt - An expansive opener about falling out of touch

This Is The Last Time - a rivetting song about a mixture of love and desperation

Graceless - The most straightforward rocker on the record, like a locomotive made of velvet and glass.