The National are two pairs of brothers: Aaron and Bryce Dessner and Scott and Bryan Devendorf; and a singer called Matt Berninger. Berninger sings in a distinctive deep baritone and they band play melancholic ballads. Despite the singer's unique voice, which fits well with the chosen genre, the real star of the band is drummer Bryan Devendorf. I am not somebody who normally notices drumming, and I was not consciously aware of it during the first few listens, but much of the drumming is immensely complicated. It drives the band's songs beyond regular ballads to something more interesting. It actually seems a shame that there are a couple of tracks without any drums.
There are quite a lot of additional musicians playing on the album. The brass and string arrangements are an important part of the band's sound. In comparison with the drums and vocals the guitar and bass parts tend to fall into the background, but they help gel the band's sound together. Describing all the constituent parts does not do necessarily do justice to the overall impact of the album as a whole. There are no bad songs on the album. There is not a massive amount of diversity between the tracks, but they all fit together seamlessly.
Recommended Track: Mistaken For Strangers
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment