It’s been too easy to lose faith in The National, especially after two albums of concertedly, deliberately middling music that hoped to hit the feels without necessarily moving the hips. After a patchy couple of albums to open their career, they really hit their stride with 2005’s Alligator and 2007’s Boxer. Both were magnificent records, full of promise, that they then went on to deliver on with 2010’s High Violet and 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me. Fans generally pick one of those four excellent records as their favourite, and they’re generally well-supported by critics regardless of their choice.
Their beautiful career arc started to go a bit wrong with 2017’s Sleep Well Beast and completely fell off the cliff with 2019’s I Am Easy to Find.
At times a slog of an album, only bolstered mildly by the appearance of guest voices, I Am Easy to Find eventually led to the real nadir of their career, this year’s First Two Pages of Frankenstein – a lightweight and often boring misstep that had no substance and very little style.
So here we are, with Laugh Track. The very good news is that it’s a much better album than its two immediate predecessors – but it would have taken some considerable effort for it to be worse. As it is, they’ve turned in their best album in ages by releasing some authentic, organic and relatively raw.
The album opens with the ominous, oppressive atmospherics of “Alphabet City”, before segueing into the thunderous “Deep End (Paul’s in Pieces)” – a song that acts as a rebirth for a band that desperately needed one.
“Weird Goodbyes”, featuring Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, is
pleasant enough – a soft–touch electronic piece that finds Matt
Berninger and Justin Vernon effortlessly blending their wonderful
voices.
The title track, unfortunately, is one of the few low
points on the album. The appearance of Phoebe Bridgers will immediately
trigger a trauma response for those listeners who really struggled with
the last record, where she was featured twice. Were Gail Ann Dorsey and
Sharon Van Etten busy? They were two of the only good things about I Am Easy to Find.
Bryan Devendorf, often relegated in recent years to drum
programming and live performance roles only, gets a real chance to shine
on “Space Invader”, which is one of the better songs on the album.
“Dreaming” is great too.
“Crumble” (featuring Rosanne Cash) is classic The National,
but with the added concession of their recent obsession with a female
counterpoint to Berninger’s baritone actually working this time out.
They also end with the best song: “Smoke Detector”. It’s
abrasive, powerful and about as invigorating a song as they’ve ever
done. Guitars howl and screech while the Devendorf rhythm section
thunders beneath them. It’s one of the most sublime pieces they’ve done
as a band.
Although a somewhat flawed album, there’s no denying
that the band seem to have returned to the kind of nocturnal, elemental
rock that made them famous in the first place.
A laugh track might be a cheap way of making something or
someone seem more impressive than they actually are, but this album is
the total opposite – a clear and consistent exercise in true class from a
band who clearly haven’t lost a step, they just took a few stray ones.
