'Your voice is swallowing my soul'
-"Afraid of Everyone", High Violet
Every once and a while a record is released that temporarily ruins all other music for you. High Violet is one of those albums. Much like on their previous work, the songs on The National’s fifth full length release force you to come to terms with the most morbid depths of your secret shames and sorrows. Much of The National’s appeal stems from the fact that we as humans need a harsh blow of emotional realism every once and a while, just to keep things in perspective. Just like our fascination with tortured artists such as Edvard Munch, we can seek refuge in the complexities of Matt Berninger’s baritone rather than attempt great artistic expression ourselves. The music, therefore, transcends individual dispositions; you can be a cheerful person or a gloomy person and I will guarantee that you will be completely enamoured with High Violet (and Alligator and Boxer, for that matter).
Without a doubt, the most admirable thing about High Violet is its relentless pursuit of aural hyperbole. It is so loud, so unforgivably layered with echoes and mesmerizing drum beats. It doesn’t flow like its predecessor, but this fact is easily overlooked by virtue of the heart-wrenching amounts of raw emotion found on the album. Its frostiness is crippling, yet there is hidden warmth which emerges as surreptitiously as the blood rush induced by icy vodka shots. If you ever find yourself hunched over some street corner in the blistering cold, alone and confused yet oddly at ease with the world, rest assured that there is a perfect soundtrack to the moment lurking in The National’s phenomenal discography.
4.8/5
High Violet was released today. Don’t waste another minute. Get.it.now.
4 comments:
Such a great album. One of the best record release dates of the year. Can't wait to see what you think of the new Dead Weather!
If this isn't the best record of 2010 then we are in for a treat since that would mean someone is going to be releasing something even better than this and that would be REALLY special.
WEB SHERIFF
Who You Gonna Call
Tel 44-(0)208-323 8013
Fax 44-(0)208 323 8080
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Hi Hanan,
On behalf of Beggars, 4AD and The National, we would kindly ask you not to post copies of "High Violet" on your site (or any non-preview tracks from the newly released album by The National).
We do appreciate that you are fans of / are promoting The National, but the labels and artist would greatly appreciate your co-operation in removing your links to the pirate files in question.
Thank you for respecting the artist's wishes and, if you / your readers want good quality, non-pirated, preview tracks, then a full length, high quality version of "BloodBuzz Ohio" is available for fans and bloggers to link to / post / host etc from www.highviolet.com/thenational_bloodbuzzohio.mp3 and “Afraid of Everyone” is now also available from www.soundcloud.com/ninasles/afraid-of-everyone-the-national ... .. for further details of the new album, on-line promotions, videos and 2010 shows, check-out the official site, as well as the band's MySpace at www.myspace.com/thenational and YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/beggars ... .. and keep an eye on these official sources for details of further news, preview material and on-line promotions.
Also and as a goodwill gesture to fans and bloggers, an exclusive preview stream of the full album is currently available via KCRW “On Demand” at www.kcrw.com/music/programs/ap/ap100503the_national_high_vi ... .. this is for hyper-linking only and so that fans can stream directly off KCRW, so please reciprocate this goodwill gesture by NOT ripping and re-hosting these files. Last, but not least, keep an eye on pitchfork.com/tv/ for the “Castle Rock Sessions” featuring live versions of tracks off “High Violet”.
With Thanks & Regards,
WEB SHERIFF
to anon, those were my thoughts exactly as I heard it the first time. such beautiful, beautiful music.
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