The National

The austere Boxer mixes rolling piano and Matt Berninger's brooding baritone for a sound that glistens with astute orchestral details. Along with piano appearances by Sufjan Stevens and backup vocals by Marla Hansen, a dense grouping of strings, horns, organs and upbeat drums give the National's melancholic tendencies a gale of vivaciousness. The album's overall milieu is established right from the opening track, "Fake Empire," a booming boxing match between gloomy rock and orchestral-pop jauntiness.

Let's talk about the drummer a minute. Bryan Devendorf's the name. He plays in the
National, who do brooding Leonard Cohen-Nick Cave-style melancholy, except he's not
brushing the drums elegantly, he's pounding, yet he amps up the piano, strings and guitar.
He's a huge part of the reason the National built up a global reputation with their excellent
2005 album, Alligator, and on Boxer he's even louder, hence better. The songs a... More >