Members of The National reunited again to First Two Pages of Frankensteina ninth album where we access very closely the introspection of leader Matt Berninger at a trying time in his life.
Matt Berninger, leader of the best-known independent band, said in recent months that he was completely stuck in writing for more than a year, while he was going through a dark period of depression. So much so that he thought for a moment that this might be the end of The National.
The song Tropic Morning News, co-written with Berninger’s wife, Carin Besser, was a turning point. The song that would start a new era for the group. Our favorite song on this album where there is no shortage of tracks to adore.
It encapsulates in five minutes (the songs of The National are always so long on this disc) the intention of the album: this need, it seems, to externalize all the difficult things to endure and to face, that Berninger had to overcome before he could approach them. As he finally tells everything he couldn’t say, we have access to a melancholy, nostalgic work, where darkness is constantly opposed to a visceral need for light (which shines at its strongest on the last piece, Send for Me).
Three high caliber artists were guest on the album, Sufjan Stevens, Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers. Swift brings a lot of her paw on The Alcotton which Berninger and she respond sumptuously, like a couple reminiscing about better times to which they would like to return.
The opening room, Once Upon a Poolsidelamentation led by the piano, with Sufjan Stevens, is hauntingly tender. Eucalyptus, just after, which we imagine already sung in chorus in the shows that the group will give soon, is a hymn both galvanizing and delicate, as The National knows how to compose it so well. The arrangements, on this piece and all the others, are beyond reproach. New Order T-Shirt mixes the naivety and lyrical simplicity of The National’s first essays with a now well-acquired maturity – a mix that has it all.
The two pieces on which Phoebe Bridgers appears give her a restricted place, where she brings backing vocals. Bridgers’ seraphic voice brings these already magnificent pieces to an even more appreciable level. the mighty Your Mind Is Not Your Friendon which she has a little more room to shine, is a song inspired by the first two pages of Frankenstein, a novel by Mary Shelly that Matt Berninger began when he was afflicted with the syndrome of the blank page. Hence the title of the album.
The projects of everyone outside of The National distinctly color the current approach of the group. Aaron Dessner has worked on the (very pop) albums of Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams, among others, in addition to launching with Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) the collaborative album of their group Big Red Machine. Matt Berninger released his first solo project in 2020. Bryce Dessner composed film scores and the Devendorf brothers each collaborated on other artists’ projects. These eclectic experiences enrich what the American group offers today. We are entering a new phase, a welcome evolution, without major turmoil (it is The National, all the same), but so sumptuous.
Extract of Your Mind Is Not Your Friendfrom The National (with Phoebe Bridgers)
indie rock
First Two Pages of Frankenstein
The National
4AD