Categories
Live music galleries

Live music galleries: The National [2014]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

The National live @ Ottawa Folk Festival, 2014

Artist: The National
When: September 12th, 2014
Where: Eh! Stage, Ottawa Folk Festival, Hog’s Back Park, Ottawa
Context: I had almost forgotten that tomorrow is the day The National is due to release their eighth studio album, “I am easy to find”. They have become one of my favourite bands still regularly releasing music and one of the few that are so reliable, I feel confident purchasing each new album for my vinyl collection without first hearing any of its tunes. I got into them with their fourth album, 2007’s “Boxer”, and by the time 2013 and their sixth album, “Trouble will find me”, rolled around, things had gotten serious between me and the band. While they were touring in support of that album, they headlined the third night of Ottawa’s Folk Festival, for which I had purchased a pass, mostly because The National were appearing there. That year was the final year the festival was held at the pastoral Hog’s Back Park and and the final year before it was rebranded as “CityFolk”. The National’s set on September 12th was mind blowing, my favourite of the festival and likely, of all the sets I had witnessed that year. All of that to say, the release date is remembered. See you all at the record stores tomorrow.
Point of reference song: I need my girl

Matt Berninger and Scott Devendorf of The National
Bryce Dessner of The National
Matt Berninger and the brothers Devendorf of The National
Aaron Dessner of The National
Bryce Dessner again
Matt Berninger and Scott Devendorf close up
Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: The National “Sleep well beast”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: The National
Album Title: Sleep well beast
Year released: 2017
Details: Limited edition, Double LP, translucent blue vinyl, 24″x24″ poster

The skinny: The National’s seventh record landed on a number of ‘end of the year’ lists last year, notably (for me anyway) finding itself at the number three spot on my own best of 2017 list. They pushed the envelope and experimented with their sound, while keeping the general ethos of their music intact. It is atmospheric and lush and dark. It looks and sounds great on vinyl and I am about hear what it sounds like live and in person later today.

Standout track: “The system only dreams in total darkness”

Categories
Tunes

Best tunes of 2010: #3 The National “Runaway”

<< #4    |    #2 >>

The National is a five-piece indie rock band that formed in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2001. They have since released seven full length studio albums and along the way have gained a serious following and managed substantial cred. They have already been seen in the pages of this young blog a handful of times, featuring in both of the Best Albums lists I have thus far compiled and appearing in this very list at the number 22 spot with “Conversation 16”.

There’s no saving anything
Now we’re swallowing the shine of the sun
There’s no saving anything
How we swallow the sun
But I won’t be no runaway

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that the seemingly stream of consciousness lyrics are a massive draw to The National’s sound. They are literate and poetic and sometimes are images that balloon to a dream or a concrete moral epiphany and at other times, are as obtuse as trigonometry. It’s fun to try to unravel meanings in the randomness of Matt Berninger’s compositions, an inside joke in gravity’s rainbow.

“Runaway” is a dirge. Bass drums thumping and laying down life as we know it. Acoustic finger picking, lilting through the dry ice fog and suddenly there’s a hint of horns, a taps for a new generation, sad but uplifting. Berninger’s deep rumble like a calming massage to your temples, breathing life into all corners of your tired consciousness. And by the end of it, you want to run away with the band, willing to go with them, wherever they will take you. It’s all so sweet.

And I think that just about sums it up.

For the rest of the Best tunes of 2010 list, click here.