As May starts to heat up here in the Valley, the new releases are following suit. Brooklyn rockers The National release their fifth album today, High Violet, to very lofty acclaim.
Anything the band lays down these days seems to turn to gold. The National has indie rock by the balls, and High Violet is the band's way of pouring it on -- a polished, incredibly deep album that nary misses a beat. It's been three long years since The National's last effort, Boxer, yet listening to High Violet seems like it's been only a few weeks. An album of the year contender from the moment the band premiered lead track, "Terrible Love," on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, High Violet has everyone in existence singing its praises, and rightfully so.
Sputnik Music: "They exist in a genre that is notorious for being high-minded and devoid of any sort of immaturity, where music has lost all of its classic appeal and relativity in favor of abstract ideas and unfeeling electronics, so you've got to give The National the credit they deserve for making three perfect albums that fall into none of those pitfalls while perfectly detailing exactly what it's like to grow up - something that the rest of the indie community wants you to believe they never had to do. Could you imagine any other band coming up with lyrics like, "Hey love, we'll get away with it, we'll run like we're awesome, totally genius" and making it sound like it's the smartest thing ever? That's right, nobody else would because nobody else is The National. In fact, it's doubtful that any other indie band would even consider writing some of the lyrics that Matt Berninger comes up with. You could say that it takes courage for him to do such things if he didn't do them so deftly and nonchalantly."
