The first time I listened to The National’s newest album, Trouble Will Find Me, I was clutching a lukewarm cup of coffee while walking down Walnut Street in Philadelphia under a grey sky and drizzling rain. I could hardly have chosen a better soundtrack for a cold morning commute. Something about lead singer Matt Berninger’s soulful baritone crooning makes you feel deep and pensive, like maybe I should be smoking a clove cigarette and reading Kafka or Tolstoy in a coffee shop.
The National, currently enjoying long-awaited popularity, debuted their first (self-titled) album in 2001, and Trouble marks their sixth, released on May 21st, 2013.
“I Should Live in Salt” opens the album, a bar-soaked gem that relates the mood of Trouble faithfully as it builds in strength and intricacy, threaded with a dark refrain, “you should know me better than that.” Their lyrics are an odd mix of moodiness and self-effacing cheek, exemplified in “Demons” as Berninger sings, “I’m going through an awkward phase/I’m secretly in love with everyone I grew up with.”
Trouble flirts with the line between melancholy and pleasantly catching. “Don’t Swallow the Cap” seems to contradict itself, with strangely sweet phrases like “tiny bubbles hang above me/it’s a sign that someone loves me” in contrast to the much darker chorus, “everything I love is on the table/everything I love is out to see.” The National have a knack for touching on shared, intensely human inner fears. They set lyrics about experiencing love, loss, hopelessness and the feeling of being directionless—the latter striking a chord in me, whiny college student that I am—against magnificently wrought guitar and keyboard harmonies, occasionally tempered with bass and a shaking tambourine.
“Sea of Love,” the pre-album released single, “Graceless” and “Humiliation” are arguably the catchiest and most accessible songs on Trouble, though they lose none of the pensive, powerful lyricism the album showcases. Melodically welcoming, yet subtly self-aware, the album digs into the listener’s consciousness and tugs on one’s heart.
Trouble met critical acclaim and success in its first week of release, achieving the No. 3 slot in sales in the US, Canada and the UK. The praise is well-deserved; the album is a beautifully crafted and polished piece of musicianship. It demonstrates how fully this band has come into its own since the release of High Violet in 2010. The lyrics are more self-referential, the melodies less forced, and the tone of the album is carried by the dramatic tension between insistent, steady rhythms and Berninger’s gentle baritone.
Even if it is your first time listening to The National, Trouble will quickly grow on you. The band’s sound builds in complexity and catchiness song after song, crescendoing to the multilayered, wonderfully integrated tracks towards the end of the album. The brooding yet relatable depth The National brings in Trouble Will Find Me is certainly worth your time.
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