The National are sounding better than ever on their new album Sleep Well Beast. Photo / Graham MacIndoe
The National are sounding better than ever on their new album Sleep Well Beast. Photo / Graham MacIndoe
We've found ourselves in a season of indie-rock returns; Grizzly Bear, The War On Drugs, and now The National have all released new albums in the past month. Each band faced the challenge of returning to a musical landscape that has changed vastly since their beginnings, with popular music nowlargely eschewing traditional album formats in favour of more playlist-friendly releases.
The National's return succeeds in its creative focus and thoughtful relevance. Sleep Well Beast is a dark album; much of it responds to the US' current torrid political climate, while other moments explore the fears and anxieties of love, marriage and fatherhood. It's not entirely bleak, nor hopeless, however - it's introspective, ponderous and hopeful, and features some of their best songs to date.
That the band are playing Villa Maria Winery next year, rather than at Spark Arena (as they did when it was Vector in 2014), is telling - Sleep Well Beast is not entirely suited to thrashing out with your friends. There's still a thrilling energy running through several tracks - Day I Die is a glorious rock anthem, with frenetic drums charging Matt Berninger's bitter calls into the void, while Empire Line's mechanical, pulsating beat and screeching electric guitar lends a strange comedy to Berninger's coyly self-aware lyrics: "I want what I want/and I want everything." But there's true genius lying in the quieter tracks - the shadowy, synth-heavy Walk It Back is a standout, a six-minute trip-hop slow-burn driven by Berninger's beautifully restrained vocals.
The National have struck a delicate balance between dialing down and ramping things up. Sleep Well Beast is an appropriate title, as exemplified by the title track; it's a record that's both sleepy and beastly, with moments of brilliance found in each outfit.
