AWD CASTLES

The National’s last two albums have been wonderful for them. Those albums really established their fanbase that is today. Boxer’s 2007 release was overshadowed by the releases of In Rainbows, Strawberry Jam, Kala, †, and Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. 2007 was a great year for music and Boxer might have put it over the top for me that year.

Their fifth studio album, High Violet follows up Boxer and is due for a May 10 release. “Terrible Love” is one of those attempts to lure you through a slow and ethereal beginning to a progressive, guitar driven peak all for the hope that you will be longing for more. This was not the feeling I got off of this opening track. “Sorrow” is a signature National track that would have been much more appreciated as an opening track. The album seems to take a turn for the better as you skip over “Little Faith” and go to “Afraid of Everyone”. This track doesn’t have much of National feel to it, but there’s a bit of a Killers sound to it that I noticed.

Then comes the single, “Bloodbuzz Ohio”, which was made available for download on the band’s website on March 24, 2010.This song is as promising of a National song as it gets. It’s got the best of Berninger’s classic baritone voice that resonates a melancholy timbre you casually find on Boxer.

“I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees/I’ll never marry but Ohio don’t remember me”

It took 19.8 minutes but I finally understand why people have penciled this down as their most anticipated album of 2010. This record really is sounding more and more like the perfect balance between the anthemic moments found on Alligator and the more introspective Boxer. Tracks like “Runaway” and “Conversation 16” make the finish to this album much more forgiving for tracks like “England” and, the not-so-bad-yet-terrible, “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks”

Track List:

01. Terrible Love – 4:40
02. Sorrow – 3:25
03. Anyone’s Ghost – 2:54
04. Little Faith – 4:37
05. Afraid of Everyone – 4:19
06. Bloodbuzz Ohio – 4:36
07. Lemonworld – 3:24
08. Runaway – 5:34
09. Conversation 16 – 4:19
10. England – 5:40
11. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks – 4:12

Josh Ritter never seems to disappoint. Before finally listening to his new album; So Runs the World Away, I went back to The Animal Years and The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. You always hear something new when you venture back. I noticed a line from his song, Right Moves from Historical Conquests.

“You don’t need the stories of my scars or in the stars to tell you nothing’s free/I traded all the innocence I ever had for hesitation “

Unfortunately The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter never seemed to take off for me other than a few songs. I did however look forward to So Runs the World Away which was hyped a bit by a friend of mine as well as Stephen King.^[1] I tried to take in this album as if it was another debut.

 So Runs the World Away showed me a sound much familiar. Its songwriting had an uncanny resemblance to Tobacco Pat, an up and coming artist I reviewed a while back. I noticed this strongly when I heard “Change of Time”. This song also struck me with much appreciation as I had attempted to write a song a while back about almost exactly the same thing and it all started out as a dream as well. The song is about a man lost at sea with only one thing on his mind; hope of finding his love.

“Your shoulder blade, your spine/Were shorelines in the moon light/New worlds for the weary/New lands for the living/I could make it if I tried/ I closed my eyes I kept on swimming.”

The next song, “The Curse”, seems to be about a mummy who is looked over by a women that eventually brings him back to life, at least in her mind. The women eventually dies as the man continues to live on because he is cursed. The ending to the song could very well be a tagline to a movie. A few tracks over and you get to Folk Bloodbath. After hearing this song I looked into it and it turns out that this is an American Murder Ballad. It reminded me much of “Omie Wise”, which was done by many artists but my favorite version was the one Okkervil River put out on a split ep with Julie Doiron.

At about this point in the album I felt its inconsistency. Lark and Lantern didn’t transition, very well, into The Remnant, which seemed to take on an alt-blues folk sound. Fortunately, It all came back to a man who had a strong love for a women. This time, it seems that Josh Ritter has recreated the famous poem, Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. This song, Another New World, is also reminiscent of the ‘stressed-unstressed-unstressed’ rhythm that Poe uses in his poem.

The album closes with, “Orbital”, a song of infatuation and the outro track that is “Long Shadows”. Its title seems to creatively relate to the intro track, “Curtains”, whether that is intentional or not, it is a nice touch up. All in all I feel as though Josh Ritter has a much stable way of creating his sound now. You didn’t get that with The Historical Conquests. As Bob Boilen put it, “This is Ritter’s most intriguing and rewarding album to date, it’s easily his most diverse.” You can’t help but agree.

Track List:

01. Curtains — 0:57
02. Change of Time — 4:04
03. The Curse — 5:03
04. Southern Pacifica — 4:24
05. Rattling Locks — 4:25
06. Folk Bloodbath — 5:16
07. Lark — 3:04
08. Lantern — 5:15
09. The Remnant — 3:56
10. See How Man Was Made — 3:26
11. Another New World — 7:34
12. Orbital — 3:29
13. Long Shadows — 2:20

On another note, the album cover to this maybe the best one I’ve seen in a long time.

This review also marks the first review that I put out a score out of ten.