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The National are a New York-based quintet
that debuted with
The National (2001), an album recorded before playing a single live show
and highlighted by Matt Berninger's smoky vocals and allegorical tales
(Beautiful Head, Cold Girl Fever,
Theory of the Crows, American Mary).
In an apparent outrage to the alt-country tradition,
the twin guitars of twin brothers
Bryce Dressner and Aaron Dressner often take a back seat to the dark, ominous crooning (via Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave) and to the flexible but ever majestic
rhythm section.
The expressive power of band and songwriter truly blossomed on
Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers (Brassland, 2003),
a soap opera of ordinary misfits that employed a more expansive sound.
The best songs
belonged to a new genre of
chamber country-pop, tinged with
Lou Reed-ian expressionism and
Leonard Cohen-ian existentialism.
That combination packed an emotional force that, coupled with the singer's
almost gothic delivery, could also propel rocking
Warren Zevon-ian songs such as
Slipping Husband, that culminates in a visceral scream, or such as
Murder Me Rachael, a lullaby drenched in a crescendo of distorted guitar and thundering drums,
or such as Available a ringing, insistent boogie with a rousing, psychotic finale.
Furthermore, these lively elegies were often supported by a broad palette of impressionistic touches,
ranging from the electronic undercurrent and the subaquatic organ of Patterns of Fairytales to
the plaintive violin of 90-Mile Water Wall
to the jangling guitars the sinister jamming of Trophy Wife (sounding like an update of the Archies' Sugar Sugar).
The textural work was even more evident in the languid, whispered
Cardinal Song (for small country-gospel ensemble), a masterful ghost of a
song that seems to die but instead revives itself for the final lines in the
form of a solemn neoclassical coda,
and in the closing Lucky You, stately jamming of guitar and piano punctuated with mournful strings.
Perhaps a bit less cohesive and less traumatic,
third album Alligator (Beggars Banquet, 2005) repeats the same show
through Baby We'll Be Fine, Karen and Abel.
While no song stood out, the proceedings as a whole emanated a sense of
sobering and profound humanity.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Luca Criscuoli)
The National sono un quintetto con base a New York che ha debuttato con The National (2001), un album registrato prima di suonare anche solo un singolo concerto e evidenziato dalle vocalità fumose e le storie allegoriche di Matt Berninger (Beautiful Head, Cold Girl Fever, Theory of the Crows, American Mary).
La forza espressiva del gruppo e del compositore sboccia realmente con Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers (Brassland, 2003), una soap opera di ordinari disadattati che utilizza sonorità più ampie. Le migliori canzoni appartengono ad un nuovo genere di country-pop da camera, sfumato con Lou Reed-iano espressionismo e Leonard Cohen-iano esistenzialismo. Spesso sono supportate da un’ampia tavolozza di ordinati tocchi impressionistici, che spaziano dalla nascosta tendenza di tipo elettronico di Patterns of Fairytales al violino neoclassico di 90-Mile Water Wall. Il lavoro di tessitura è perfino più evidente in Cardinal Song (per piccolo ensemble country-gospel) e Available (per gruppo rock'n'roll).
Forse un po’ meno coesivo e meno traumatico il terzo album Alligator (Beggars Banquet, 2005) ripete lo stesso spettacolo attraverso Baby We'll Be Fine, Karen e Abel.
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