album review: the national, trouble will find me

‘Love is a virtue’, croons Matt Berninger on Trouble Will Find Me, the title track from The National’s sixth studio album. It is that virtue that guides the narrative of the album, with Berninger offering up his heart and soul for our consumption.

What was alluded to on 2010’s High Violet is laid bare, and in a noticeably more direct way. I Need my Girl (with that very lyric being repeated over and over), is a plain and matter of fact admission from the man who told us he was being carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees. This rather square honestly is present on the rest of the album, and this, without a doubt, creates the band’s most accessible record yet. It seems we’ve got to the point where Berninger needs no metaphors, with the album’s message of love and its pitfalls made inexplicably clear. ‘I am secretly in love with everyone I grew up with’, we’re told on first single Demons, which may explain to us why Berninger has just so much love to sing about. But beside from a comedic ‘well, duh’ moment, the lyric aptly tells the story The National has been telling all along – that love, when kept in, bubbles and brims until it hurts. The idea of Berninger having numerous faces he can draw love and pain from explains the rich tapestry of experience and realistic angst that The National weaves.

Sonically, this album stays true to the band’s form, and employs the use of chimes, keys and strings to create melodies that perfectly lock with the honest lyrics . However, the real star is Berninger, with his deep, distinctive voice masterfully aligning heartbreak and joy, and giving us that sense of despair mingled with hope that sets The National apart from virtually every other band of their ilk. With Trouble will Find Me, we have an album, rich in its narrative and raw emotions, that manages to be able to be enjoyed on first listen, but still unfold itself slowly, listen by listen, until we have a clear picture of a man putting his demons to rest.