ARTIST...: The National
TITLE....: Sleep Well Beast
YEAR.....: 2017
LABEL....: 4AD
CAT.NO...: 4AD0020LPE
GENRE....: Alternative
TIME.....: 57:15
SIZE.....: 96,36 MB
QUALITY..: 235kbps/48,0kHz/Joint Stereo
ENCODER..: LAME 3.98.4 -V0
SOURCE...: Vinyl
RLS.DATE.: 2017/09/08
WEBSITE..: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-national-sleep-well-beast/
TRACKLIST
01) (04:40) Nobody Else Will Be There
02) (04:29) Day I Die
03) (05:58) Walk It Back
04) (03:55) The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness
05) (04:21) Born To Beg
06) (02:59) Turtleneck
07) (05:21) Empire Line
08) (05:12) I'll Still Destroy You
09) (05:35) Guilty Party
10) (03:32) Carin at the Liquor Store
11) (04:48) Dark Side of the Gym
12) (06:25) Sleep Well Beast
Over the decades, artists have made concept albums about everything from the state of
Michigan to the life of Gaudi to the Ravenskill Rebel MilitiaÆs revolt against the
rule of Emperor Nafaryus of the dystopian Great Northern Empire of the Americas in
2285 (US prog-metal band Dream TheaterÆs 2016 quadruple album The Astonishing, if
youÆve got two hours and 10 minutes to spare). But few artists have alighted on a
topic quite as tricky as that which drives the NationalÆs seventh studio album.
Virtually every song on Sleep Well Beast concerns itself with the bleak minutiae of
middle age: feelings of regret, relationships becoming careworn and û especially û
unignorable cracks appearing in a marriage.
ItÆs not even a divorce album in the vein of DylanÆs Blood on the Tracks or BjoerkÆs
Vulnicura. Nothing as dramatic as that. It deals not in fury and vengeance, but
passing moments of eye-rolling frustration and sighing ennui; not in cataclysmic,
rupturing rows but grumbling discontent and odd spasms of self-flagellation; not in
catastrophic descents into alcoholism or substance abuse, but vague worries about
boozing and smoking weed, not least the fact that theyÆre not leavening lifeÆs load
in the way they once did. ôLetÆs just get high enough to see our problems,ö suggests
a song called Day I Die; ônothing I do makes me feel different,ö complains IÆll Still
Destroy You.
These are the kind of subjects that inform umpteen novels but not many rock or pop
songs, and you can see why. The emotions involved are pretty universal and potent but
theyÆre also complex and nuanced, hard to distill into four minutes and a few verses
without seeming inconsequential or self-indulgent: why have you written a song about
this In comparison, relating the saga of the Ravenskill Rebel MilitiaÆs revolt
against Emperor Nafaryus in 2285 looks like a doddle.
So itÆs to the immense credit of the NationalÆs frontman Matt Berninger and his co-
writer Carin Besser (who, intriguingly, also happens to be his wife), that the
listener to Sleep Well Beast never feels as if theyÆve been cornered at a party by an
over-sharer keen to fill you in on their many woes. Berninger and Besser are very
good at both summoning evocative images û the faded childhood memory of ôyour
motherÆs arms when she was young and sunburned in the 80sö û and in hitting a very
realistic, muted tone, amplified by BerningerÆs understated baritone voice. The songs
on Sleep Well Beast are stuffed with lines that sound like they would be muttered
under the breath in real life, whether theyÆre dealing with helpless despair at the
state of the world û ôIÆm at a loss, IÆm at a loss, IÆm losing grip, the fabricÆs
ripped,ö complains the title track û or with more domestic matters. ôGoodbyes always
take us half an hour,ö complains the narrator of Nobody Else Will Be There on leaving
a party. ôCanÆt we just go homeö
Nuanced, understated, restrained: you could apply the same adjectives to much of the
music here, which turns out to be rather more of a mixed blessing. There are moments
when listening to Sleep Well BeastÆs preponderance of stately, atmospheric ballads,
flecked with delicate electronics or subtle orchestration, can feel not unlike
watching a long, moody, critically acclaimed film drama, possibly starring Casey
Affleck: you find yourself simultaneously applauding its elegance and the evident
thought and craftsmanship that went into making it, while quietly wishing it would
get a move on.
When it does, itÆs fantastic. The psychedelic distorted guitar churn of Turtleneck;
the fluttering, disorienting IÆll Still Destroy You û a song on which the oft-
deployed line about the National being a kind of American analogue to Radiohead makes
a kind of sense û and, particularly, the single The System Only Dreams in Total
Darkness, a song that feels kaleidoscopic and in contrast to the NationalÆs more
usual tendency to shade their music in monochrome, momentarily shifting the mood away
from claustrophobic gloom. The latter crams a lot into four minutes û twinkling
synthesisers, a soaring pop chorus, spasmodic retorts of fuzz guitar, a stinging
solo, an appealingly ungainly take on a funk breakbeat û and sees a band who deal
largely in muted delicacy forgetting themselves for a moment and letting go. For all
Sleep Well BeastÆs considerable and undoubted strengths, it is hard not to wish
theyÆd let go just a little more often.
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