The National Finds Some More Trouble

There is no question that Trouble Will Find Me by The National is downbeat and subdued when compared to the 2010 release of High Violet. But the tempo hardly matters when listening the distinctive deep baritone of singer-songwriter Matt Berninger.

Formed in 1999 by a bunch of Ohio natives playing in Brooklyn, The National spent almost three years compiling material for their self-titled debut in 2001. What made the debut even more extraordinary was that Berninger, Aaron Dessner (guitar, bass, keys), Bryce Dessner (guitar), Scott Devendorf (bass, guitar), and Bryan Devendorf (drums) had never even played a single live show before releasing it.

The three-year investment, recorded with the help of engineer Nick Lloyd and and released on the Brassland label founded by Alec Bemis, paid off and the debut earned its place among the alternative underground. While the debut was a landmark beginning, it was only a beginning. The world-weary sound of Berninger and The National is light years ahead from where they started.

Trouble Will Find Me is an artistic collection of visceral tunes. 

Written almost immediately after the band had returned from a two-year tour in support of High Violet, the tone of the album was mostly set by guitarist Aaron Dessner, who would sneak into the studio with extreme sleep deprivation caused in part by his newborn daughter. He sent along dozens of musical fragments to Berninger for a listen.

“He’d be so tired while he was playing his guitar and working on ideas that he wouldn’t intellectualize anything," said Berninger, who says it's rare for either Dessner to send him anything unfinished. "This time around, they sent me sketch after sketch that immediately got me on a visceral level.”

The early work changed everything. The band hadn't even planned to record anything for a year or two, but quickly found a new motivation. Instead of feeling tense, everything fell into place and created a cohesion that takes the band someplace they never anticipated.



Although not the strongest song on the album (but close), Sea Of Love does capture the sentiment. All throughout Trouble Will Find Me are self-lacerating glimpses of indecision when big things in life happen. Love, life, birth, death, separation, depression can make you wonder how you ended up somewhere.

Don't Swallow The Cap touches on the same self-reflective theme and there isn't a better track on the album. That's not to say other tracks don't measure up. On the contrary, there is much to love about this shadowy series of self-destructive, addictive glimmers of uncertainty with everything one loves on the table.

Perhaps the most haunting thing about the album is best conveyed on Demons, which hits the hardest parts of the album. The lyrics reveal a depression-induced urban ennui. None of what is felt here is caused by a lack of friends or necessities, love or possibilities. It's self-induced loneliness, a paralyzing and unexplained emotion that takes hold.

Other magnificent and brooding tracks include the piano-laced Pink Rabbits, the escapism of This Is The Last Time, and the most uptempo tune, Graceless. But aside from these songs, suffice to say that the album plays best with all 13 tracks to complete it. It's also the only way to catch a few carefully planted nods to great artists and some tongue-in-cheek lyric lines that will make a few people smile in the sorrow of it all.

Trouble Will Find Me Abandons 9.1 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

One aspect I've always appreciated about The National is their honesty without being pretentious. They know who they are and that the troubles they sing about are reserved for people who don't have real troubles. The power of this band is their poetic and heart-wrenching images, along with an ability to emote it all through Berninger's vocals and the balance of the band's instruments.

Trouble Will Find Me by The National is available from Amazon. You can also find the album on Barnes & Noble and download it from iTunes. Although the band never intended to be touring again so soon, they have a huge tour starting up in June. Check for play dates on Facebook.

Mark Lanegan Has A Blues Funeral

As frontman for Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age, Mark Lanegan needs no introduction. Both bands broke enough ground that they sometimes swallow up some of his numerous projects like Soulsavers, Gutter Twins, The Twilight Singers (on occasion), and others.

And then in 2003, of course, there was the gritty and tenacious release of Here Comes The Weird Chill by The Mark Lanegan Band. It was a brazenly dark and delicious exploration of expression that was much loved but still somewhat left lurking on the fringe of his other solo work, like Bubblegum.

Not this time. Blues Funeral is an alternative blues rock powerhouse that pulses up from six feet under. It's not Bubblegum or Weird Chill, but something better. It carries forward some of the same shuddering feelings but often with a bigger, bass-heavy voice and thick lyrics.

Blues Funeral is a meticulously haunting love affair with everything under the veil.

The nearly decade long wait to revive this remarkable direction catches Lanegan exactly where he needs to be to deliver it. The music is intensely intimate, reaching out and enveloping everything.

The album leads off with The Gravedigger's Song, a driving introduction that sets the tone of the album with a beautiful gloominess. It's a crushing contrast to anything being produced by the pop quarters and momentarily makes you fall in love with music all over again, right down to the French verse.

Everything is black, my love. Everything is white. I love you, my love. As I like the night.



The obsessiveness isn't all spent on ghostly love and infatuation. It's only the beginning. The surrender in Bleeding Muddy Water with its slow beat blues is infectious. The brooding lament of St. Louis Elegy captivates with its twisting end-of-the-line lyrics. And Riot In My House retracks the pace of the album with some crunchy guitars and an uptempo beat fronted by a celebration of savored chaos.

The album doesn't miss a beat becoming more eclectic as it carries on. Ode To Sad Disco is an awakening song, both spooky and romantically melodic. Phantasmagoria Blues washes over with a regretful sorrow, someone trading in integrity for success. Harborview Hospital is both sad and thoughtful, referencing the life, death, and sickness found inside the song's namesake.

The entire album strikes hot and heavy, with the last three songs sure to be among my underplayed favorites. Leviathan, Deep Black Vanishing Train, and Tiny Grain Of Truth are all contemplative and end-of-life exposes like only Lanegan can deliver. Sometimes it's as if he glimpsed other people's last chance at redemption or maybe he remembers one of his own.

The best made better by some of the finest collaborators in music and film. 

The album was produced in Los Angeles with Alain Johannes (Them Crooked Vultures) and Jack Irons (Pearl Jam) handling most of the production. Irons also guests on some of the tracks, along with Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) and Greg Dulli (The Twilight Singers).

The Gravedigger's Song video was crafted by Allstair Legrand. The entire intent of the video was to translate the music into something dark and elegant, much like the song and entire album. Everything is surreal and dream-like, which is undeniably sinister in its literal moments but oddly comforting in how Legrand wants you to be unafraid, an ever-present theme across the album.

The video was shot at a house built on a secluded hillside near Salinas, Calif. According to The Masses, it remained untouched since the retreat of its last residents. Legrand said it was waiting for them.

Blues Funeral By The Mark Lanegan Band Digs Up 9.7 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale. 

For someone as talented as Lanegan, it's difficult to come right out and call this his best work. It would be like saying Warhol is better than Basquiat or Gauguin better than Van Gogh. The fullness, texture, completeness, and songwriting are different, much like Weird Chill or maybe Bubblegum.

Although I'm not especially fond of the repetitiveness in Gray Goes Back or peppiness of Quiver Syndrome, Blues Funeral deserves to be listened to in entirety, start to finish. You can find Blues Funeral on iTunes or pick up the CD at Barnes & Noble. The album is also available at Amazon.

Lanegan is already on tour in support of the Blues Funeral. After tonight in Los Angeles, he will embark on a heavy European schedule (first stop Norway) and a couple of stops in South America. He'll be back in the U.S. for the Sasquatch! Festival in May.