Four years after their most recent album, Matt Berninger, the Dessners and the Devendorfs release First Two Pages of Frankensteina career achievement for The National due to the complexities this album had from its composition, the writer’s block of its vocalist and the challenge of incorporating several heavy collaborations.
We wonder how it is possible that the Cincinnati band has created so many gems and continues to express their feelings with such intensity on record after record. This album becomes a breather, a moment of tranquility among so much intensity from The National, a crucial point to understand a band that is not afraid to open up, even in adversity.
The calm after the storm at The National
Fed up with not being able to generate song lyrics and feeling lost, was the preamble for the group to create one of their most sensitive and ambitious albums. The National has been a band that recently fills up arenas and arenas, and they are on tour most of the year, so returning to compose was a break after having a very busy schedule.
This is noticeable on the album, which is one of The National’s least accelerated, which does not have the great distorted solos, but instead shows the most vulnerable side of the quintet. the simple “Your Mind Is Not Your Friend” is perhaps the clearest image of what was going through Matt Berninger’s head, as he told us in the exclusive interview we had with him..
In one of The National’s most personal albums, the poetic voice of Matt Berninger continues to stand outas a raw and real testimony of love relationships, without idealizing situations or creating caricatures of loved ones. The album is full of references to intimate situations, and we notice it more in songs like “New Order T-Shirt” or “Ice Machines”, stories of situations that feel true..
With more questions than answers (as in our own minds), Berninger is right again in the verses of the eleven songs that make up the album. Getting out of his own mind a little has helped the lyricist of The National a lot to put himself in other perspectives, and the collaborations were a key point for the success of the four songs with guests.
The successes and failures of the new collaborations of The National
As a new item, First Two Pages of Frankenstein It is the album with the most collaborations in the history of The Nationaladding to Phoebe Bridgers (“This Isn’t Helpin”, “Your Mind Is Not Your Friend”), Sufjan Stevens (“Once Upon A Poolside”) and the very Taylor Swift (“The Alcott”).
The dialogues of I Am Easy to Find (2019) by The National change with the female voices of two collaborators. They work particularly well with Phoebe Bridgers, an artist who as a soloist and with boygenius has shown a unique sensibility and continues to release more and more music this year.
“The Alcott,” with Taylor Swift, is one of the most daring moments from a cult band like The National, casting the arena-pop heroine as a collaborator.. This responds to the closeness that the singer has with the Dessner brothers (particularly to produce folklore in 2020), and Aaron Dessner produced Evermore (2021) recently.
In a dialogue between romantic voices, under a very pop nuance, the ballad attracts Taylor Swift’s audience, and the more pop-oriented composition is unknown territory for The National. Undoubtedly, an unexpected collaboration but very well achieved.
The support of Sufjan Stevens in the opening song of the new album by The National, gives it a divine touch that characterizes the discography of the American writer, with brilliant details that anticipate a highly thought out and worked album. This type of collaboration contributes a lot, without taking away the autonomy and identity of the band..
The National gives us the load of hope we need
The beginning of Mary Shelley’s novel, for which the title of The National’s album is given, is an exploration of human feelings through a figure we never see clearly. In the first two pages, the novelist declares that it is her task to preserve the truth of the elementary principles of human nature.
Precisely The National navigates many feelings: anxiety, despair, desolation and homesickness. Of course, having recorded the disc, the band brings a feeling of hope and relief into the songs, bringing out everything on their mind and heart.
The particular combinations of feelings give more identity to The National, with a record that allows you to better see the people behind the instruments, and even gives anthems of distorted frustration like “Mr. November” or “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness”.
Without a doubt, we want to hear The National’s new album live
Bryan Devendorf is a present element but he does not have the prominence that we have heard on the band’s albums, perhaps more prominently on the Sleep Well Beast (2017). Balancing his discography quite a bit, The National redefines itself once again as a group that has extremely moving scope in its storytelling.
For this disc, “Alien” and the wonderful “Send For Me”, put us in the position of Matt Berninger to understand him better, with effective lyrics that captivate anyone. And without a doubt, we are sure that when listening to these songs, many will empathize even more with the vocalist of The National.
The National store is wonderful and they have many references to their songs, along with physical editions of the new album. You can find everything in its official store. It only remains to wait for The National announce intimate shows for Mexico City soon, because we want to hear First Two Pages of Frankenstein live.
