Boxer

For the first eight years of The National's history, the Brooklyn band followed a slow-and-steady path to success, attaining a modest level one would expect of a group whose brooding indie rock felt tailor-made for long, dark nights of the soul. Yet the critical and commercial breakthrough of their fourth album, <i>Boxer</i>, proved there was a greater audience out there than even the band may have imagined for their reliably melancholy songs. <br /> The reasons for that revelation are plenty clear on “Start A War”, an acute demonstration of the warmest qualities of Matt Berninger’s baritone and his ability to convey emotional strife in short, sharp phrases. “I’ll get money, I’ll get funny again,” he pleads to a lover already half out the door. Tempering the more aggressive nature of <i>Alligator</i> (2005) with arrangements that favoured a near-orchestral degree of fullness and richness—guests include Sufjan Stevens and Sharon Van Etten collaborator Thomas Bartlett—Berninger’s bandmates match the simmering intensity in the frontman’s lyrics with plenty of drama of their own. On “Mistaken for Strangers”, that comes in the form of the martial drumming and high, discordant strings that emphasise the song’s menacing feel. Conversely, the sad wheeze of Bartlett’s accordion lends “Slow Show” the air of the final boozy moments of a wedding party like the one pictured on Boxer’s cover. <br /> Along with becoming live-set staples, “Start A War”, “Mistaken for Strangers” and “Slow Show” would all be featured in TV shows and films, giving more prominence to a group that could’ve easily stayed in the shadows. But with <i>Boxer</i>, The National became a secret that was too good to keep.