Product Description

'Boxer' is the fourth album from New York based quintet, The National. Produced by the band themselves with help from Peter Katis (Spoon, Interpol) and Fred Kevorkian (Ryan Adams,Regina Spektor), the album sees Matt Beringer and co. continue with the brooding indie rock of their highly praised 2005 release 'Alligator', while fleshing out the sound with orchestral accompaniments. The album includes guest appearancesfrom Sufjan Stevens, Marla Hansen and Australian composer Padma Newsome.

Track Listing

1. Fake Empire
2. Mistaken For Strangers
3. Brainy
4. Squalor Victoria
5. Green Gloves
6. Slow Show
7. Apartment Story
8. Start A War
9. Guest Room
10. Racing Like A Pro
11. Ada
12. Gospel

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #282 in Music
• Released on: 2007-05-21
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Here lurks introspection
I'm somewhat aware that quite a few fine albums from the past year or two have slipped slyly under my Radio Detection and Ranging apparatus and I'm earnestly engaged in rectifying this sorry state of affairs. Boxer by The National was released almost one year ago but I have only grown to know and love this recording very recently. Here are twelve intense popular songs, richly crafted and featuring shimmering pianoforte, elegant percussion, soaring guitar soundscapes that underpin one of the most maudlin and melancholic voices in music. Here lurks introspection; hints of alienation, loneliness and urban gloom permeate the fairly subdued proceedings. The arrangements are upliftingly beautiful, the melodies take a while to appreciate but once under the skin, remain there like old 'n' loyal comrades. I'm always faintly reassured when I fail to `get' an album on first hearing; Boxer proves that repeated listens really do bear fruit with recordings of quality. I recommend.

sublime.....possibly the best album I own
I copped this recently, and at first I wondered what the fuss was about....it seemed dreary, indistinct and samey.
But given a few listens and it suddenley clicked
This is a sublime album....perfection from start to end....I actually love every track (especially Mistaken for strangers, which rocks) and have become a convert.
Possibly the best thing I've heard in 10 years, this is a vital album.

Bold, bruising and elegant - a superb album...
Having bought "Alligator", the previous album by The National, and being so unimpressed by it my (anonymous) Amazon review currently has 43 "unhelpful" markings next to it. I therefore completely ignored "Boxer" for several months after its release.

Only by catching a youtube clip of the band playing "Fake Empire" on the David Letterman show did I do one almighty double take. Was this really the same band? The sound was definitely the same, but my main objection of old (namely singer Matt Beringer's occasionally clumsy lyrics) had been wiped away in around 3 minutes of The National crafting a brilliant, understated, glorious and elegant hymn to...well, whatever "Fake Empire" is actually about (I confess, I don't know).

Was the album going to be as equally as impressive? Well it is. It's actually superb. I can't believe it's the work of the same band - or, as you might quite rightly argue, surely they've always been this great and I'm the one with cloth ears.

Either way, I strongly recommend "Boxer". It is an indie album where you should relish the pleasure in slowly understanding it. The songs are not immediate, in-your-face anthems. Each songs' highlight is so subtle you might miss it the first time around - but there is intelligent, well crafted musicianship here (particularly in Bryan Devendorf's impressive drumming - which is never fussy, but actually has a personality all of its own) and an impressive collection of well sequenced songs.

It's a rich, complex record - and that it was ignored in end of year polls by magazines such as Uncut and Mojo is a travesty. This is music you'll still be learning a year from now.