in memory everything seems to happen to music

A little over a year ago, I sat at my computer, boxes packed, killing time looking for new music to dance my future memories to. I think I searched for "Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave." And the Google result brought up a review (that I can no longer link to, sorry to say) of The National. After reading the review, I searched for their band site, which at the time, didn't come up as a top hit, as the URL doesn't have the band's name in it. The first song I heard of theirs was "Slipping Husband," which they offer as a download, and was an apt tune at the time for me. A few months later, having settled into my new life, I was able to see them live at the Hammerstein Ballroom with a good friend of mine. It was a show that, as I wrote at the time, solidified my emotional musical connection to them. And as last year took shape, I found more and more of the moments I started placing in memory surrounded by lead singer, Matt Berninger's baritone and spot on, but just quirky enough, lyrics.

So, it was great to be able to revisit this whole time, almost a year to the date, and see the band, not once, but twice, and take a look at how we had both grown up in the past year. The National have shot up a few more inches than I, by far (Springsteen is apparently a huge fan, now, too). Their newly released CD, Boxer, arrived in stores a week before the show I attended at Bowery Ballroom, but it only took a day or two for me to find a space in my brain for all the songs on the album. Trekking out on yet another school night with the same buddy who joined me last year, the crowd at this year's show was the biggest immediate difference. While still a comfortable, unpretentious (for the most part) mix of younger and older-ish, there was most definitely a different vibe in the crowd; in fact, it would not have been unexpected to have seen some Bic flames shooting up in front of me ... and that, indeed, was disconcerting. However, I have never been one to believe that creative worth comes from being undiscovered ... my enjoyment of things has not, for a long time, rested on whether or not I alone appreciated its worth. The National may be derivative, they may come up in a random search, but it is eclectic, and moody, and their members recognize something that resonates intellectually and emotionally. It's interesting, and how many things can that be said about these days? Without a book in hand, I just don't know ... In Montreal, the scene was more quiet, perhaps these boys are still just a local phenomenon and not the "rock stars" that the greater NYC media has made them out to be? Either way, I won't deny myself the enjoyment and connection, and place in my brain that they inhabit. One listen to "Slow Show" and a read of that song's lyrics and I was hooked. The whole of the CD is like that.

I'm a fan, for me, the band will always represent a discovery I made, at a time, when all I was looking for were things of my own.
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"lit up alright," "never look her in the eyes" © 2007 duluoz cats.

See the full set of concert pics here.