Album Rating: 4.0
Dyl, that’s one of the moments that makes Pull a bad song for me and one of the worst National moments ever :-/
There are a good few moments here where it’s actually Matt that frustrates me more so than the female vocals.
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Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
Matt is floundering
Except on the GOAT Matt performance of the album - Not in Kansas
Rest is either phoned in, swamped by guest input, or clumsy sounding garrumphs.
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Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
Matt was a bit subpar on SWB too but the songs and the Dessner's work elevated the album just enough
Plus he had great moments like the chorus to System, Nobody Else and esp the t/t.
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Album Rating: 4.0
What’s happening for me is this is settling into something a bit more MOR - the tracks that I found very weak at first are growing but the ones I loved are sliding a tad.
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Album Rating: 3.5
That moment feels to me like a ray of sunlight resolving (or climaxing?) the cacophony but to each their own.
Yes Doof, "Not in Kansas" isn't quite my favorite here but I will agree it's Matt's best performance on the album.
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it could have been their "leaving la" if they had the balls to include the ten minute version
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Album Rating: 4.0
Dyl I hate how that part sounds almost auto tuned and the guitar line there is pretty messy and bad too, the moment really doesn’t gel. Pull feels like they took parts of like 3 different songs and just threw them together randomly. The last two minutes of the song are fine but that’s also one of the moments where I don’t like the female vocals, they sounds like Of Monsters and Men or some other crappy indie pop band.
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Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
'What’s happening for me is this is settling into something a bit more MOR - the tracks that I found very weak at first are growing but the ones I loved are sliding a tad.'
That sounds like the definition of an unexceptional album all round. I'm clinging to four or five songs here being relatively decent. I'm not elevating the rest though, it's just uneventful and unmemorable material after 10 listens.
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Album Rating: 4.0
Luci, yeah I also noted the similarity to that song. Kansas does work a bit better as a song though even if Matt struggles to fit the words into the melody in a few spots there.
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Album Rating: 3.5
"Kansas" has some of the better incorporation of femvox on this album too, I like how they feel like a response to Matt's verses.
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Album Rating: 4.0
Doof, yeah Matt struggled in a few spots on SWB (“Nobody Else Will Be There” was the one that I had the hardest time with) but it is much more so here.
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Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
I like the lullaby sections and I guess the fact that they're singing 'Thinking Fellers' lyrics is a cooler than thou indie rock tip of the hat.
Just sad such things are the highlight of this album as Not in Kansas would have only been the third most successful experimental track on SWB.
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Album Rating: 3.5
Pull feels like they took parts of like 3 different songs and just threw them together randomly
^ Thats spot on, and it happens throughout the album. And I hate that.
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Album Rating: 4.0
Yeah Doof as it stands I only prefer 2-3 songs here to anything from SWB. Though I enjoyed the “weaker” tunes there a lot more than most.
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Album Rating: 3.5
Both this and SWB are 3.3-3.7 range for me, and I'm a pretty liberal grader. I have HV, Alligator, and Boxer 5'd, and Trouble 4.5'd, so its not like I don't worship the band. I'm driving 10 hours this summer to see them in Chicago, and if they play a set loaded with these songs, Im going to be fucking pissed.
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this is the first national record in a while that i don't have any 'loved' tracks on (4.5+). the ceiling is real
quiet light and where is her head might get there though
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Album Rating: 3.5
The only one I really "love" is Light Years. That song has an incredible melody.
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Album Rating: 4.0
“Quiet Light” and “Light Years” are my loves
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Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off
Light Years is unique for the band and is a pleasant airy take on 'the traditional piano ballad' - but man oh man it shouldn't be the main highlight on any National album. It is just so damn slight and 'plainly pretty'.
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Album Rating: 3.5
You're right Doof, it wouldn't be top 6 on any of their classic albums, but its the clear standout on this one, at least for me.
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