Despite my vote for Boxer as the best album of 2007, The National remain a band that I wish were better. The problem is, songs like this prove they are capable of being more than a maudlin band full of existiental urban angst...songs like this prove they can actually rock and still keep their philosophical bent.
I will need a little more time before I decide if this song is really worthy of being called perfect, but...between the hypnotic, all snare, drumming, the churning bassline, the haunting organ, and the restrained, buzz-saw guitars, the song manages to mix whimsy and dread in equal parts, while Matt Beringer's lyrics tell a tale that could be about a couple riding out a blizzard trapped in their apartment, or perhaps it's the apocalypse, who can say?
Not to try and be the "I was with this band way back then" guy...but honestly, the parrallels between this band and me are rather noteworthy and lead to me getting into them around the time of their first album. Like me Beringer is from relatively small town Indiana, came to Cincinnati to try to do things better...found that place woefully inadequate and came to New York during the dotcom boom. Now they, like me, call Brooklyn their home. Honestly, I love this band...I just wish their gloomy world view wasn't always so mirred in lethargic rhythms.
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