Review Summary: The National presents.. only the first Two Pages?
My history with the National began as a kind of joke that mostly only Canadians will get. You see, in that great country the biggest news outlet is the CBC where the flagship news program is called 'The National,' hosted by Peter Mansbridge. Upon hearing of this band with the same name, I irrationally thought the wizened old host with a stately voice made a drastic career change. Imagine my surprise when the lead vocalist, while not Mansbridge, had the same stately voice and was not significantly different in age. This was quite the 'news' story to me.
In the following years since my discovery of this band I've thoroughly enjoyed their work. The atmosphere, lyricism and low tempo rhythm appealed to the lifestyle I had coupled with relationship changes. That is until the release of "I am Easy to Find." In my mind the biggest problem with that release was the overabundance of guest musicians. There is nothing wrong with having guest appearances of course, but in this case they were too prominent to the extent that, beside a handful of tracks, did not even sound like a National record. At one point, I thought they should have named the album, "Various Artists Compilation." Imagine my trepidation then when I learned their newest offering, "The First Two Pages of Frankenstein" would also have guest musicians.
Thankfully though, 'Frankenstein' does not suffer from the same problem its predecessor had. This feels through and through like a National album, as it should. The guest musicians, namely Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift are utilized appropriately. In that they complement the National but do not take over the show. On the other end of the spectrum, some have said that Taylor Swift was underutilized or wasted but I have to disagree based on the context and lyrics of the songs.
Take 'The Alcott' for example, which for me is also one of the best tracks on the record. The lyrics are written from both a first person and third person viewpoint. Take this passage of the song for instance,
"It's the last thing you wanted (tell me, which side are you on, dear?)
It's the first thing you do (give me some tips to forget you)
You tell me your problems (have I become one of your problems?)
And I tell you the truth (could it be easy this once?)"
This reads like an interplay between Matt and Taylor who is playing the role of his significant other and voicing her thoughts internally. When Matt delivers the line 'You tell my your problems, Taylor then in parentheses thinks to herself, 'have i become one of your problems?' In this context, Swift plays the role of a guest musician perfectly, in that she complements the band, but does not overshadow them. Even better is that Taylor is used to serve the song in a meaningful and story driven way, and is not there performing just for the sake of it. She's there because the lyrics behind the song demanded it.
With 'The Alcott' being one of the high points on the records, one of the lower points has to be for me 'Eucalyptus'. It starts off fine from an instrumental viewpoint however it is let down by the chorus. The chorus is written and delivered in such a way that is just comes off as irritating and repetitive to listen to rather than infectious. Again, the instrumentals are good and reflect that classic National sound, but not all band members are firing on all cylinders.
Overall this is a vast improvement over, 'I am Easy to Find,' however it seems appropriate that it mentions only the first 'Two Pages' in the title. This is because while the majority of the songs sound complete, others give the impression that in effect, only two pages of music sheets were made and were wrapped up prematurely for some songs. Despite this, I still recommend a listen.
