THE NATIONAL
Australian Tour January 2008
Formed in 1999, when five friends from Cincinnati, Ohio met again after all of them had relocated to Brooklyn, NY. For years, the band had received critical praise but it wasn’t until 2005’s ‘Alligator’ that a wider audience finally discovered them. ‘Alligator’ ended up in the higher echelons of scores of year-end critics’ lists with reviews like “It is the sound of Interpol as reinterpreted by Tom Waits” (E! ONLINE). Not surprisingly the band found themselves selling out large venues across Europe, the UK and the US.
Gothic in its detailing but jaunty in its execution, The National’s music is something far richer than orch-pop (translation: rock n roll topped with violins). The band finds ways to combine the expressive depth of composed music with the urgency of pop. It’s a sound built with guitar, bass, piano and drums and festooned with brass, woodwinds, backing vocals, strings, and organs. A product of dedicated labour, happenstance, and alchemical reactions, the music reveals new layers with each successive listen.
Their latest album ‘Boxer’ is the result of a lot of hard work and marks a new chapter in the band’s career, it hits as high as ‘Alligator’ but is a different record – just another classic album from a band on top form.
Much like the band’s recorded oeuvre, the Brooklyn-based group’s live show starts out slow and steady, but finishes with a raging passion and intensity prompting comparisons to Nick Cave and Wilco and comments like;
“The band’s stunning ability to produce both pounding screaming rockers and beautiful mood pieces was apparent.” (Harmonium)
“For a band that constantly sings about disappointment, regret and barely registering one’s own existence in a faux-Rome, The National sure knew how to deliver a hell-of-a-show.” (Yerp)
“The show’s emphasis is simple. Promote the new record and sing the songs in such a way that represents the album, with added spontaneous tenacity for good measure.” (Drowned In Sound)
“The National has gotten a great deal of press, become a media favorite and band’s live shows are not to be missed” (the Madison Music Review)
In organizing this tour Civil Society spoke to no less than three major festival programmers who were cursing the fact that they had to wade through hundreds of cds for festival acts and all they wanted to listen to was The National’s ‘Boxer’…
This is music lover’s music of the highest order – don’t miss their first visit to Australia.
Filed under: The National