high violet

The National swallowed the sun and explained everything to the geeks with the stolen soul of these somber songs of sorrow and sympathy.  With the adulation afforded 'Alligator' and 'Boxer', the band was in a position to experiment with their sound. Matt Berninger explains: "I worked on melody far more than I ever have in the past. I didn’t work on the lyrics at all for the first six months of working on this record. I just wanted melodies that were good. We wanted these songs to feel overwhelming and powerful. We wanted to undo what we did with Boxer. There are swelling moments on Boxer, but Boxer is restrained. It has a lot of building tension that never quite releases. We wanted a cathartic, sonic explosion with this record. Musically is where that tension release happens on this record; it doesn’t do it with me screaming. It was a reaction to Boxer; in another way—we had a lot of confidence. We wanted to make a really fun record. I understand when people say “well it’s not fun, or happy.” And I know it’s not happy, but I do think it’s fun. It’s kind of this loud, ugly blast in a lot of ways. That was all intentional. We were all definitely swinging for the cheap seats on this one ... I think that we, without ever talking about it for some reason, we were always drawn to those suspense building moments that hold on something for a while and it builds and swells with tension, and it’s fun. It’s drama. And I think we do that a lot without even ever realizing it. It’s just something, it’s just how we write. Recently we’ve been trying to, not very well, but we’ve been trying to write just fun pop - - whatever a pop song is, but we’ve been attempting to write something that we would think of as a pop song, and we’re trying to avoid some of our old, some of the comfort zones. And a song like “Anyone’s Ghost” was I think the only semi-successful version of a pop song that we’ve written. And, I don’t know, it’s like we - - there’s just things that, the new record High Violet, we talked about making a really fun record after Boxer, you know, Boxer is dark and stately and so we wanted to make a very different kind of record. Somehow, I think it’s a lot more fun, I think this record is dark fun, you know? It’s more black fun, whatever you would call it, because the themes are some of the darkest stuff lyrically I think that we’ve written, and musically."

'High Violet' features Matt Berninger on lead vocals; Aaron Dessner on guitars, keyboard, and bass; Bryce Dessner on guitars; Bryan Devendorf on drumsand percussion; and Scott Devendorf on bass and guitar; with Tim Albright, Benjamin Lanz, and Dave Nelson on trombone; Hideaki Aomori on clarinet and bass clarinet; Michael Atkinson and Jeremy Thai on French horn; Thomas Bartlett on piano and keyboards; Mads Christian Brauer on electronics and filtering; CJ Camereri on trumpet and cornet; Greg Chudzik on double bass; Rachael Elliott on bassoon; Alex Hamlin on baritone saxophone; Maria Jeffers on cello; Bridget Kibbey on harp; Thom Kozumplik on percussion; Rob Moose on violin; Nico Muhly on celeste; Padma Newsome on violin and viola; Richard Reed Parry on double bass, electric guitar, piano, vocals, and backing vocal arrangements for "Conversation 16"; Kyle Resnick on trumpet; Nadia Sirota on viola; Alex Sopp on flute and bass flute; Sufjan Stevens on harmonium, vocals, and backing vocal arrangements for "Afraid of Everyone"; and Laurel Sprengelmeyer, Marla Hansen, and Justin Vernon on vocals.  

'High Violet' was produced by The National with additional production by Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, and Peter Katis;  and recorded between March 2009 and January 2010 in Aaron's garage in Brooklyn, NY by Peter Mavrogeorgis, Brandon Reid, Aaron Dessner, and Bryce Dessner;   with  additional recording at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT by Peter Katis, and at Kampo Studios in New York City by Patrick Dillett.  Greg Georgio was the second engineer and was assisted by Keith J Nelson.  Additional vocal recording was done by Christian Biegai in Berlin, Germany.  Mixed by Peter Katis with additional mixing by Greg Georgio.   Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound in New York City.   Orchestration by Bryce Dessner and Padma Newsome, except "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" and "Lemonworld" by Nico Muhly.    The cover sculpture is called The Binding Force by Mark Fox.

Aaron Dessner admits:   "This is the first record that I can listen to so soon and enjoy, which is either a really good sign or a really bad sign! After Boxer, I was so traumatized by the process and how stressful it was, and how close we came to really getting… What we did with Boxer in the end was more dramatic I think, because we were literally taking endings off and ‘Apartment Story’ had a whole other verse, and ‘Brainy’ had this whole outro and different lyrics, we really chopped it up. This record, because we made it at home, we worked many many many many more hours on it as we could work all the time, and I think we got closer before mixing than we ever had before. A lot of the aesthetic was pre-determined by us being able to fight this battle."

'High Violet' went to number twenty-nine in Australia; twenty-three in the Netherlands; twenty in Austria fourteen in Switzerland; twelve in Norway;  ten in Germany; nine in Finland; five in New Zealand, Sweden, and the UK;  four in Greece; three in Belgium, Ireland, and the US; and number two in Canada and Denmark.





http://americanmary.com/






"Bloodbuzz Ohio"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfySK7CLEEg




"Conversation 16"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg5geyUlU4Y




"Terrible Love"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-qVDENt_xM

"Sorrow"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IIYjPlnCi4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLx__X15glc



"Anyone's Ghost"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw6YJsL907w



"Afraid of Everyone"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5C2WVCruPM



"Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a1UoljLWrY





'High Violet'
full album:

https://myspace.com/thenational/music/album/high-violet-20403039

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9249C21D7717DF7A



1. "Terrible Love"   Matt Berninger, Aaron Dessner 4:39
2. "Sorrow"   Berninger, A. Dessner 3:25
3. "Anyone's Ghost"   Berninger, Bryce Dessner 2:54
4. "Little Faith"   Berninger, Carin Besser, A. Dessner 4:36
5. "Afraid of Everyone"   Berninger, A. Dessner 4:19
6. "Bloodbuzz Ohio"   Berninger, A. Dessner, Padma Newsome 4:36
7. "Lemonworld"   Berninger, B. Dessner 3:23
8. "Runaway"   Berninger, A. Dessner 5:33
9. "Conversation 16"   Berninger, Carin Besser, A. Dessner 4:18
10. "England"   Berninger, A. Dessner 5:40
11. "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks"   Berninger, Carin Besser, A. Dessner 4:12

bonus tracks
12. "Walk Off"   Berninger, A. Dessner 2:40
13. "Sin-Eaters"   Berninger, A. Dessner 3:40
14. "Wake Up Your Saints"   Berninger, A. Dessner 4:14
15. "You Were a Kindness"   Berninger, A. Dessner 4:25

alligator

The National built a fire and went the dull and wicked ordinary way to find something to cry for and something to hunt in the playful pathos of a common fetish.   The members of the band include two sets of brothers (Aaron & Bryce Dessner; and Bryan & Scott Devendorf) and lead singer Matt Berninger.  They all grew up in Ohio and relocated to Brooklyn when their bands Nancy and Project Nim fell apart.  They formed their own record label Brassland Records with Alec Hanley Bemis in order to release their albums The National  and Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers as well as the Cherry Tree EP  before signing to Beggars Banquet. 

 'Alligator' was produced by Peter Katis and Paul Mahajan at Tarquin Studios; Drummerman Studios; Jess and Ole's House; and Headgear Studios.   The sessions featured   Matt Berninger on vocals;   Aaron Dessner on lead & rhythm guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, and vocals;   Bryce Dessner on rhythm & lead guitar;   Bryan Devendorf on drums and percussion;   and Scott Devendorf on bass, rhythm guitar, and vocals;    with  Padma Newsome on viola, violin, piano, organ, and orchestration;   An-Lin Bardin on cello;  Rachael Elliott on bassoon;  Nick Lloyd on piano, organ, and keyboards;  Nate Martinez providing additional guitar;  Sara Phillips on clarinet;  and  Carin Besser, Nathalie Dessner, and Peter Katis on backing vocals.


Aaron Dessner would reveal:   “Matt (Berninger) writes all the words, and he takes a lot of care to be not overly literate but to leave a lot open to interpretation. There are personal things, surreal fantasies, and he likes to write about human weaknesses, using lines stolen from conversations or character studies – there’s some desperate but beautiful people on the album. He’s got a lot out of his system writing it! ... Well, we can safely say we’re not alcoholics, but alcohol does play a part in our music, it’s a kind of euphoric mix of whisky and adrenalin. Maybe some of it was recorded when we were drunk, which is why it sounds a bit off kilter!  ...  My brother and me play guitar, and I write the finger patterns all over the album, with Bryan Devendorf drumming all around them – it’s an urgent drum sound. To get everything the way we wanted it we used a really old one-inch tape machine, we didn’t want a studio sound. That means the album is just the sound of a band in the studio, nothing more – we didn’t want the velvet box’ sound.”

Berninger confesses:    "Sometimes I worry about exposing unattractive details but the awkward, ugly little moments are more tangible and compelling than sounding cool. Some of it is autobiographical, but a lot is just storytelling. The woman in red socks pissing in the sink in "City Middle" is only partly true. Its interesting to shine a light on the unsavory things we do but it's never intended as a joke. I don't mean to humiliate the people in the songs. I try to have respect and empathy for them, especially when they are me...We didn't go into making Alligator with any plan. We didn't know what kind of record we were making. We wanted to set up at home and work casually as opposed to spending a month in a studio but that was the extent of the planning. We didn't think about the label or worry much. We had fun noodling around and doing it at our own pace. A lot of it was written at night and it definitely has that feel to it, whatever that is...Most of it was recorded at our homes or practice space with Paul Mahajan. He engineered the remote recordings. We then took everything to Peter and spent two weeks mixing and more recording. It was a good way for us to work. There's an interesting mixture of low and high fidelity. We'll probably do something similar next time."


 'Alligator' broke the band around the world, putting them on many critics lists and selling over two hundred thousand copies worldwide.







http://americanmary.com/









"Lit Up"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCvzwd87d70




"Looking for Astronauts"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eVg4Epqn6g





"Daughters of the SoHo Riots"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3_YrOULNY0




 "Val Jester"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eBN1dv4m_8



"All the Wine"
https://vimeo.com/6588105

The National "All the Wine" from Cortes Marc on Vimeo.


"Abel"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1BjndTZvQY





"Karen"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8ZFHkLz--s







 'Alligator' 
full album:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL239B6FFC5F8037BA




All songs written and composed by Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner, except where noted.

1. "Secret Meeting" (Berninger, A. Dessner, Scott Devendorf) 3:44
2. "Karen" (Berninger, Bryce Dessner) 3:59
3. "Lit Up"   2:55
4. "Looking for Astronauts"   3:23
5. "Daughters of the SoHo Riots" (Berninger, B. Dessner, S. Devendorf) 3:59
6. "Baby, We'll Be Fine"   3:21
7. "Friend of Mine"   3:25
8. "Val Jester" (Berninger, B. Dessner) 3:00
9. "All the Wine" (The National) 3:15
10. "Abel"   3:37
11. "The Geese of Beverly Road" (Berninger, A. Dessner, S. Devendorf) 4:57
12. "City Middle" (Berninger, B. Dessner) 4:28
13. "Mr. November"   3:57

 bonus tracks
"The Thrilling of Claire"   4:32
"Driver, Surprise Me"   3:20



"Secret Meeting"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_3yUhu4pnw