release date: Sep. 2, 2003
format: cd (HWY-003)
[album rate: 3 / 5] [3,22]
producer: Nick Lloyd; Paul Heck and Peter Katis (as co-producers)
label: Brassland - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 2. "Slipping Husband" - 4. "It Never Happened" - 5. "Murder Me Rachael" - 6. "Thirsty" - 7. "Available" - 9. "Trophy Wife"
2nd studio album by The National, again released on independent label Brassland. Prior to this, the band has been expanded by bassist Aaron Dessner's brother Bryce on guitar, who also contributed as additional musician on the debut. This means that, aside from now being a quintet, the band is constituted by two brother-pairs, the Devendorff brothers, Scott and Bryan, and the brothers Dessner, Aaron and Bryce together with vocalist Matt Berninger - a line-up that would prove to be a lasting one.
Without being great, this still betters the somewhat grey debut, which had a folk thing going on that didn't come out as something extremely original, whereas this is more of a rock thing trying to combine the inner-felt melancholy of Leonard Cohen with the strict tensions à la Joy Division. Still, I find that the end result sound much closer to American Music Club / Mark Eitzel, and the band still has a hard time sounding like a truly original band.
[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone 3 / 5, Uncut 4 / 5 stars ]
