Album of the year, surely.I could just leave the review there, but that would be lazy. It's simply magnificent, a slow-burning epic that reveals another layer each time I listen. Padma Newsome's orchestration, with help from the Dessner boys, is sumptuous, Matt Berninger's voice is amazing as always, and once again the drumming from Bryan Devendorf is out of this world - not in a Bonham or Grohl way, but just inventive, clever, subtle, militaristic...think Bill Berry if he was raised in Brooklyn instead of Athens, GA.
'Anyone's Ghost', 'Conversation 16' and 'England' stand out for me in an epic, romantic, sad, hopeful album. Not quite as good for me as Alligator...yet.
Anyway, I'd let the music do the talking. Head over to Youtube to watch some of a gig recently recorded in Brooklyn, with backup from Sufjan Stevens and Richard Reed Parry:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheNationalVEVO
what the album doesn't sound like, however, is "like Joy Division hanging out in the desert." Thanks The Daily Telegraph, I nearly died laughing.
Amazing. What a band.
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