American indie rock band The National released its fourth album this year. Before listening to Boxer, I had only heard their previous album, 2005's Alligator. Every cut is solid, and the new recording easily entices and earns multiple listens. The drums are noticeably louder and punchier, giving the piano and guitar parts more space for melody and texture. You know a rock band is serious about the piano when the piano player doesn't sing. Although, judging from their band configuration for their recent performance on Letterman, one extra slice out of the pie doesn't make a huge difference. Subtlety is the key word with this band, and that performance pretty much caught it... not bad for a TV performance, actually. Stand out tracks include 'Slow Show, 'Fake Empire', and the single Mistaken for Strangers, which sounds like a pseudo-goth/pop track from 1982 that time forgot, then found, then re-wrote, re-arranged and re-forgot. (read: compliment)
Oh, and Sufjan plays on a couple tracks.
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