For the past week or so one particular album has been playing quite a bit in my player. Despite listening to a lot of other music as well, this particular album has been playing in my head the most often and constantly used its siren song like powers to return me to its cuddle. This particular album would be Boxer, the latest album from the American rock band The National which was released last year.

So I’m fairly reasonably late in my coverage about this but life’s about discoveries and ramble about them, isn’t it?

There was a fair amount of talk about Boxer when it appeared and as a year has passed since its release, the common opinion seems to have solidified – Boxer is being hailed as everything from a great album to a modern classic. I don’t know if I could go into such hyperboles as the latter comment but despite my relatively short time with it (as I only managed to find the kick of interest to research into it recently) it’s already shown me that it’s not really a run of the mill rock album. It never sounds particularly unique or groundbreaking, but it’s got what matters the most – depth.

Probably the most commonly heard anecdote concerning Boxer is that it should have been named “Grower” instead. Pretty much every single review about the album confirms what everyone else has already said – Boxer opens up slowly but surely. It drags you into its world and with patient ears can the listener find its special magic. I agree with these people-turned-statistics. Boxer isn’t challenging by any means, in fact it’s got a very accessible sound and it shares many similarities with other contemporary acts from USA, particularly Interpol (especially soundwise) though with less drive and more melancholy moody-eyedness. What exactly makes the album such a grower is extremely hard to explain and I’ll have to admit I can’t do it, but let’s think about it like this: you know the age old anecdote about an onion and its layers, right? A relatively simple looking vegetable that however contains countless layers you can peel away. That anecdote was born for Boxer. Just like you know an onion from the first moment you see it, Boxer’s sound is very familiar to all those who keep up with contemporary rock music. At first the album even sounds ordinary. But each listen there’s something new there – a particular musical detail, a piece of the lyrics, the revelation that Matt Berninger’s voice that channels equal parts of the Interpol bloke’s deep croon and Springsteen’s melancholy murmur is actually a really effective voice even if you can’t understand jack shit about the words without the lyrics at hand, etc. Each listen I’ve had a different song open up for me in a way that I didn’t realise some of this stuff was there on the previous listens. The final result becomes a hypnotic curve of looking for a reward – you feel compelled towards the album because you begin to realise that each and every listen you’ll find something new and you want that new.

There’s other things too. The album’s sound is the perfect capsulation of worn and bittersweet loneliness, the sort of music you listen to while you gaze out of the window at night, look at the world outside and think about the moment and life around you. That becomes another hooking point. What might sound melancholy suddenly becomes oddly relaxing and complacent. It blocks away distractions. Another high point is the amazing drumming on the album – during many songs I find myself automatically starting to air drum the wonderful tom-filled drum lines found throughout the album. The stark and powerful use of the beat backs the rest of the music perfectly.

And the songs. Boxer is a perfect album in the sense that every single song belongs together with the rest of the songs and there’s an especially strong form of unity over these tunes yet each can stand individually as well. “Fake Empire”, the opening track, the fastest-growing and the song that finally made me decide to dwell into the album opens the album in a fantastic way, growing from a rollicking piano-and-voice into a fantastic, near-anthemic full band finale which includes some lovely horns. After that during the rest of the album you’re introduced to the pulsating, strong drive of “Squalor Victoria”, the touching soft march of “Gospel”, direct rocker covered withlonglyriclinesthatcreateanauraltrance “Mistaken for Strangers”, the beautiful “Slow Show” (”You know I dreamed about you 29 years before I saw you”), the ringing guitar jingle of “Green Gloves”…

It might sound like I’m absolutely head over heels over this album, but funnily enough I’m not (yet). I do like it, quite a lot actually and more with every listen. But so far I’m still in the middle of the opening process. I can sense it. Boxer appeals and sounds great yet you can clearly hear that this is the sort of album that you listen to for ages before all of a sudden, one day, it all clicks together just perfectly . All of a sudden the whole album finds a whole new meaning to the listener and it becomes a personal memory tied to that moment in life for the person hearing the music.

And I’m eagerly awaiting for that moment.

Fake Empire

Brainy

Tags: The National

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 10th, 2008 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.