“I go in and out of phases of exhaustion, dejection and despair, but not in the way that some people do,” The National frontman Matt Berninger told NME in 2020 when discussing what shaped his stately debut solo album ‘Serpentine Prison‘. “You can get so lost inside the weight of all of it.”
Berninger found himself at sea in the years that followed, battling depression and writer’s block. With his bandmates also going through somewhat of an existential crisis, the mood within the camp was very much that The National could be no more. It’s totally at odds with their star rising among a new generation as guitarist Aaron Dessner became the go-to producer for pop’s biggest and brightest, adding a sprinkling of sad folk majesty to a slew of records by the likes of Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.
Ninth album ‘First Two Pages Of Frankenstein’ – named to reflect the blank and desolate wastelands that open Mary Shelley classic noir novel, one that helped Berninger work through his writer’s block – is very much a band at ground zero, proving that they can do this as much to themselves as to a waiting world. “I was suffering more than I let on,” pines Berninger on the brutally honest ‘Tropic Morning News’, as he finds the strength to put sadness into song: “There’s nothing stopping me now, from saying all the painful parts out loud”.
The Phoebe Bridgers-assisted ‘Your Mind Is Not Your Friend’ is a piano-led waltz through that haze where “You try in vain to be persuaded that it’s nothin’”. There’s another Bridgers collab, the aching ‘This Isn’t Helping’, while The National get by with a little further help from their friends on the gorgeous and gossamer ‘Once Upon A Poolside’ featuring Sufjan Stevens and ‘The Alcott’ with new pal Swift – the latter an arena-ready lighters-up ode to lending an ear to some hard truths.
‘Ice Machines’ and ‘Send For Me’ take the minimal approach of 2017’s ‘Sleep Well Beast’ but with some of the subtle lushness showcased on the ambitious ramble of 2019’s record-cum-soundtrack ‘I Am Easy To Find’. It’s the shades of light and dark that make this record what it is. ‘Eucalyptus’ raises a sad smile as Berninger draws up a spreadsheet of who gets what at the end of a relationship (“What about the glass dandelions? What about the TV screen? What about the undeveloped camera? Maybe we should bury these”), while ‘Grease In Your Hair’ is driven by their bittersweet sense of almost-triumph that made 2010’s ‘High Violet’ the breakthrough that it was.
“This is the closest we’ve ever been,” sings Berninger on ‘Once Upon A Poolside’. While he’s certainly singing of his family and bandmates, it feels the same of The National and the listener. Having made a name with their brand of what the frontman once called “sad-sack-mope-dad-rock-brunch-core-Americana” first perfected on their raw but anthemic cult third and fourth albums ‘Alligator’ and ‘Boxer’, the band are only now at their most emotionally direct.
Just as 2013’s ‘Trouble Will Find Me’ was The National seizing their arena fame by showcasing and perfecting their appeal, ‘First Two Pages…’ is testament to what makes this band so popular two decades down the line. This is The National back from their brink and at their absolute best.
