Brooklyn’s The National are the absolute antithesis of an overnight success. Working together for over a decade, the group’s slow ascent to international acclaim has been emotional. Overlooked and ignored, the reviews have almost formed a visual identity to any of the band's tracks... brooding, building, battling and disappearing into the distance with a lasting euphoria.
5th album High Violet is the bands most eagerly anticipated and delivers across the board. It's been said before that once you become entranced by Matt Berninger’s baritone you will have discovered a band for life – for love and loss, euphoric highs and exhausting lows.
1 Terrible Love
2 Sorrow
3 Anyone's Ghost
4 Little Faith
5 Afraid of Everyone
6 Bloodbuzz Ohio
7 Lemonworld
8 Runaway
9 Conversation 16
10 England
11 Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks
Like an American Elbow, the National have taken over a decade and several albums to bring their mournful, elegiac anthems to a point where High Violet is the magnum opus that will make them stars. - The Guardian
The New Yorkers’ finest disc to date is a potential album of the year. - BBC Online
An impressive achievement overall, offering a masterclass in subtle emotional shading, which none of their current peers, and few of their inspirational influences, could equal. - The Independent
