The National - Trouble Will Find Anthony Fantano

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The last four songs on this record turn me on in ways few recent albums have.

This album seems to be drawing some subtle criticism about their sound, and I am finding myself getting quite defensive.

Now I only think about Los Angeles when the sound kicks out...
 
Pink Rabbits is a brilliant song. Matt once again shows his knack for taking a simple line and making it sound impossibly poignant: "you said this would be painless; it wasn't that at all."
 
When I walk into a room I do not light it up. Fuck.




Probably my favorite line on the whole album. If there was something I was going to criticize with the album, I'd go with the lyrics overall. Too many words that rhyme with themselves, too many rhymes like the lyrics of graceless that just seem to rhyme for the sake of rhyming. I know 1) lots of songs are like this and I don't usually gripe about it and 2) it's hardly new, lots of lyrics from lots of songs on all their other albums rhyme. But none of them seem to call attention to themselves and stand out like they do on this album. Maybe it's the repetition as well--how many times is the fainting chair part repeated in pink rabbits, or the you should know me part in I should live in salt? I still wouldn't call this a terrible thing, it's just not as good as they've been in the past.
 
For me this is the weakest album of theirs lyrically, debut excepted.
 
I was all set to write an insanely long and sappy post about The National and the album and some bullshit about my life but am opting to spare everyone and just say that I'm still listening to this album and still loving it.
 
I think it is a much stronger album, both lyrically and musically, than High Violet.

And yes, Pink Rabbits is a beautiful song. The sequencing and the atmosphere created from it is so effortless in those final four or five tracks.
 
I still like high violet the best. But trouble will find me is good and I've listened to it a bunch.
 
I think it is a much stronger album, both lyrically and musically, than High Violet.

I agree. I think the album flows beautifully and I like that the lyrics are a bit more focused than they were on the older albums. Matt did the word salad thing more on Alligator and Sad Songs and it made for lots of awesome quotes, but I think as entire pieces, most of the stories on this album really come together. High Violet was a transition of sorts into less abstract lyricism but the writing feels more colorful and personal to me on this one (and yes, there are plenty of standout lines too). All of the albums have good lyrics, but this one is up there for me.

Everyone picks out the "I do not light it up/fuck" line from Demons as a highlight, but the whole song really resonates with me. It almost hits too close to home. And when you realize that I Should Live in Salt is basically an apology from Matt to his brother for joining a band and having a life apart from him, it really cuts deep.
 
Everyone picks out the "I do not light it up/fuck" line from Demons as a highlight, but the whole song really resonates with me. It almost hits too close to home.

This is really the crux of strong lyrics, isn't it: how much something resonates or sticks with you? I can't even count how many lyrics from Trouble float around in my head everyday. I think Alligator probably is Matt's best lyrical effort in terms of those endlessly quotable lines, but Trouble is right up there as well.
 
For some reason, this bit resonates with me the most...

All the L.A. women
Fall asleep while swimming
I got paid to fish 'em out
And then one day I lost the job

And I cried a little
I got fried a little
Then she laid her eyes on mine
And she said, "Babe, you're better off"

It doesn't really mirror my life at all, but there is something universal about the emotions involved.
 
Also, concerning Pink Rabbits, the line about Bona Drag brings two of my absolute favorite artists together. I was quite happy when I first noticed it.
 
I think I've pinpointed my problem with alligator. It starts out with such a song trio of songs, a stretch of tunes that is up there as one of my favorite things they've done. Then you have looking for astronauts. And that song sucks. And then daughters and baby we'll be done become casualties as I skip (im already skippibg things, and i like friend of mine a lot so why dont i just skip to that) them to get to friend of mine, and I wind up with this giant hole that really breaks up the flow of the album.
 
You know you had a permanent piece of my medium-sized American heart.

How I love that line. Otherwise, though, I think Astronauts would be the one song Alligator could stand to lose. For Trouble, I would say that song is Heavenfaced.
 
Yeah, heaven faced was ok for about two listens. I still am not sold on pink rabbits, though. Hard to find and humiliation aren't as dull as I originally thought.
 
Most of their albums for me have this problem with flow (except Boxer). Just when it feels like we're going somewhere, back into the ditch with something like Little Faith or Val Jester or Fireproof.
 
You know you had a permanent piece of my medium-sized American heart.

How I love that line. Otherwise, though, I think Astronauts would be the one song Alligator could stand to lose. For Trouble, I would say that song is Heavenfaced.

The "it's not a fever / it's a freezer" part is a real clunker.
 
Boxer was my entry point for the band, then I went back through their earlier stuff and of course have listened to the two new releases since Boxer. Boxer remains my favorite, but, to be fair, I adore all their albums outside of the debut almost equally. I guess the gap between Boxer and the others is negligible.

As for flow, I still think Trouble Will Find Me has their best song sequencing, but that's obviously a highly subjective thing.
 
I was all set to write an insanely long and sappy post about The National and the album and some bullshit about my life but am opting to spare everyone and just say that I'm still listening to this album and still loving it.

I think you should write this up and message it to me.
 
Most of their albums for me have this problem with flow (except Boxer). Just when it feels like we're going somewhere, back into the ditch with something like Little Faith or Val Jester or Fireproof.

Both Val Jester and Fireproof serve their purpose within the respective records and work just fine. Boxer is far too anti-climactic for me to consider it the one with great sequencing. This one works the best as far as I am concerned.
 
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