National – Boxer

Sam is a good friend of mine, and he knows music. Every now and again he gets really pissed off at something and he turns into Sambo. I wonder what Sambo listens to?

Anyhow, not-Sambo-Sam has been listening to The National – Boxer, and I am stoked he told me about them. I realize they’ve been around for awhile; but I’m glad to have discovered them recently. They have a slight Interpol feel to them (who by the way, has a whacked website); but The National is a bit more accessible.

These days, good deep voices are rare. You mostly only hear them when your local restaurant forces alternative garbage down your eardrums. Lead singer Matt Berninger rocks the deep baritone and completely changes the face of the music–in a good way.

My favorite track so far has to be number one: Fake Empire (although, Green Gloves is pretty rad). With an upbeat piano starting things off, Berninger’s baritone is the second sound on the track. The song keeps moving and then another piano enters, followed closely by an offbeat drum you wouldn’t quite expect. The song chill’s out again for a second then pickups into the full beat. At this point, I realized this song could really stick with me.

So far, it won’t be the album I play every day; but Boxer by The National has been growing on me. It wasn’t my favorite tunage right off the bat; but as I said, it keeps growing on me. The track “Mistaken For Strangers” just keeps getting better and better…I keep going back to it. If you find yourself thinking they’re a bit too indie for your liking; give them another chance–my experience has been that the best discs take time to learn.