The National - 'Sleep Well Beast' Album Review

The National – ‘Sleep Well Beast’

The National, now 7 albums in, have consistently been one of the loudest politically voiced acts on the music scene since their birth over 15 years ago. They regularly voiced their support for Obama in 2008 & 2012, holding benefit concerts in his honour, and have also created star-studded charity records to benefit the fight against AIDS/HIV in low-developed countries. They’ve begun to construct this liberal, kind-hearted, loving personal image, something that has been reminiscent of the band’s music of the past. The National have always been able to create music that is vibrant and full of soul yet simultaneously bleak and manifested; a typical dinner party band you might say, easy to listen to yet also dangerously addictive and austere. The group’s latest record ‘Sleep Well Beast’ seems to have taken a dangerous handbrake turn from this once comfortable motorway onto a narrow, blinded country road. Where the band were once restrained and controlled, they are now experimental and daring, confident enough in the fact that their fans will enjoy this embryonic approach and knowing full well that they can pull it off.

Their latest record incorporates a number of different features that would never have even been considered on previous The National records. Drum loops are frequent, brave and ingenious samples are weaved in, there’s a certain ‘Kid A’ feel to some of the tracks on this album. This seems to be a common theme on ‘Sleep Well Beast’, attempting to create something different simply for the purpose of to get it done before your impending doom. ‘Day I Die’ tackles the joyous subject matter of being unable to live a normal life because you are fully aware of the fact that you will soon die. This element of a ‘mid-life crisis’ is certainly there for all to this on ‘Sleep Well Beast’. The band’s frontman Matt Berninger, now 46, seems to be attempting to deal with his consciousness on this record, utilising it as a desperate attempt to gain some personal satisfaction before the inevitable comes about.

Despite this record potentially being deemed as experimental or as a concept album, the DNA of The National is clearly living and breathing as strong as ever throughout the 12 tracks on ‘Sleep Well Beast’. The majority of the tracks often centre themselves around a slow-burning piano-based introduction before Berninger’s sultry vocals are introduced to lull you into a state of relaxation before a quick burst of chaos. ‘Carin at the Liquor Store’ and ‘Guilty Party’ fully represent this side to ‘The National’ and could also be inferred as a metaphor for middle aged life, the majority is monotonous and dull, yet there are brief epilogues of madness that you divulge yourself in and enjoy them while they last. The wildest The National present themselves on ‘Sleep Well Beast’ is ‘Turtleneck’, a track that feels like the closest we will ever get to a The National rave event, it’s almost as if the kids are away for the weekend and Berninger is letting his hair down so to speak.

Overall, ‘Sleep Well Beast’ is a really great record. It manifests itself on the face of it as a relatively subdued, rather depressing, kind of album with only brief moments of joy, yet when it is discected and examined closely, and compared to the band’s previous work, this is genuinely joyous for Berninger and co. It is extremely rare that the group would create an album like this and it is certainly going against what they are comfortable with. ‘Sleep Well Beast’ is a culmination of a band that have had their ups and downs yet are still very much united and together, much like a marriage.

Overall Rating – 8/10

Fave Tracks – ‘Day I Die’, ‘Turtleneck’, ‘Guilty Party’, ‘Carin at the Liquor Store’

Least Fave Tracks – ‘Nobody Else Will Be There’, ‘Sleep Well Beast’