Bleep

This album features in the top ten albums of 2013

American indie royalty The National’s sixth album Trouble Will Find Me saw them convincingly open out their sound to more pronounced electronic influences, whilst retaining the soulful rock heart which makes them so endearing. On ‘Demons’ singer Matt Berninger produces a confessional vocal take in his growling lower register amongst crisp synthetic drums to powerfully oppressive effect, while ‘Sea Of Love’ sees them add to their already considerable body of anthemic rock persuasively with what is bound to be a festival anthem come the summer.

Despite the conventional song writing style pursued by the band, there is a plethora of neat touches which should make the record pleasurable listening to fans of more experimental fare. ‘Heavenfaced’ is grounded upon a chord pattern which is subtly angular in its progression from step to step, and is played on a unassumingly exotic mixture of filtered piano and guitar harmonics. ‘Pink Rabbits’ recalls the folky majesty of the likes of Bon Iver, with breathy layers of backing vocals giving extra life to the circling lilt of the rhythm section.

It is above all Berninger’s excellent vocal performance which recommends the album, with the range and delivery making the songs come across like intimate confessions heard from a close friend, rather than overblown rock proclamations.