That El Vy record is fucking great. I can’t wait to give this new National album a few listens.

Takes a me a bit for any National album to sink in, but yeah Where Is Her Head is special. Great tune. Going to be hard to dethrone Trouble Will Find Me from my #1 spot as far as Nat'l albums go

Has anybody seen the video for Hairpin Turns? I liked the song quite a bit now I like it less cause I keep thinking of that weirdo dancing...

The_Raz and I must've listened to this thing 27 times this weekend. We both love it. The songs we weren't sure about have grown on us immensely. It helped to figure out some of the lyrics. "A million little bottles.." is actually "a million little battles" and that makes so much more sense... etc.... Unlike most of their 'grower' songs, I don't think that Swirls in Strange Light song is ever going to... one musical choice I don't really appreciate is the 'oooooohhhhh, oohhhhhhhh, ohhhhhhh, ohhhhh,' repeating electronic swell sound that was also in SWB, which makes some appearances on this album.. hard to describe... doesn't really make much sense to me.. maybe they're going for a chaotic vibe.. Not in Kansas is kind of annoying to me... I love when the female parts come in, so awesome, but Matt's droning on and on is tiresome/boring... though some of the lyrics are clever... Other than that we really love it! Raz even danced to I am Easy to Find and Where is Her Head. She's a beautiful dancer. She had a sort of hip hop flavor on the 'million little battles.. ticker tape' part...

We also watched the short film 3 times. We both cried each time. Very touching. A lot of it really ties in well with the album. I recommend watching it if you haven't.

We also browsed through a bunch of their live stuff on YouTube... Matt has a drinking problem and stage fright so it's not always the best... but sometimes they are amazing... If I'm gonna recommend this band to anyone, I'd say stick to the studio recordings and if they want to hear a live album, listen to Boxer Live in Brussels. Most of it is pretty good.

I also doubt Roman Holiday will grow.. it's also pretty boring

Of the albums I've listened to extensively, here's my ranking:

1. Sleep Well Beast - They've never sounded more powerful and effective than in its big moments.
2. High Violet - Most consistently enjoyable album throughout but it has its lame moments, including Runaway.. UGHH I can't even listen to that song anymore..
3. I Am Easy to Find - This will probably overtake High Violet, and perhaps SWB in time. They are getting better with age. The female singers make so much of this better than it might have been.
4. Alligator - There's something weird about the sound quality of this one... a lot of it seems pretty off, but it has some great moments. Looking for astronauts is nearly unbearable.
5. Boxer - Live in Brussels is better than studio version, and pretty good.. but, with the exception of a few songs, it has yet to do much for me.
6. Trouble Will Find Me - Some good songs in the beginning and spread throughout but I can't make it all the way through.. I get stuck toward the end and find it unlistenable.. doubt it'll grow

Early favorites:
Quiet Light
Oblivions
I am Easy to Find
Where is Her Head
So Far So Fast
Rylan
Light Years

OK I gave Trouble Will Find Me another shot yesterday... Yeah, I'm really coming around on this... Growing a lot

Pink Rabbits may be my #1 National tune

yeah.. it's pretty great

I’m just listened to the new album for the first time. Oh my good god.

Quiet Light is a really good song.

I heard that song live a couple of times last summer. I thought it was “meh.” It hasn’t changed much since the way they played it then, but now I love it. This seems to be a pattern with a lot of National songs for me.

Quiet Light is probably my least favorite really good track on this album.

Yeah, I didn't really see the appeal in Quiet Light when it was live last year; it sounded a little paint-by-numbers. But I love the song on here. It's also smart of them to put it near the start; it has the sound of the new record, but it still feels enough like an older National song that it eases you into some of the turns they're going to make.

This record's incredible; I think I'm really only not sold on Roman Holiday as of yet. I love how great Not in Kansas is in spite of how bad it could be. Reading a description of that song, a seven-minute stream of consciousness thing where Matt rambles about Annette Benning and punching Nazis while a choir comes in every once in a while. That sounds like it could be an absolute disaster. But for some reason it works so well.

Humiliation is one of my absolute favorites.

I'm completely with you. Roman Holiday is easily the weakest track for me and Not in Kansas is either great or terrible...a part of me feels like it might be terrible but I'm very drawn to it in spite of its potential terribleness.

Yeah, I cannot get into Roman Holiday, but it's not the worst track, Swirls in Strange Light and Not in Kansas are definitely worse. Nearly everything else on the album is top-notch National, though.

I agree about Roman Holiday -- it's the weakest song on the album. Also, re: Not in Kansas, it's fine in its own right. It's not something that I'd throw on a National playlist or listen to just out of pure enjoyment. But I typically don't skip it when I'm listening to the entire album.

Evidently Matt B. had about 17 more stanzas to that song that Mike Mills cut. It used to be over 10 minutes long.

Yup, I think that's my #2. Prob followed up by Don't Swallow the Cap. I should really just rank them all at this point