Notes

Boxers Album Review
Boxers is the National's savvy, quietly anthemic follow-up to 2005's Alligator. While it may not be as immediately enveloping as that album, this is just as powerful and a more precise refinement of their literate, heartfelt take on indie rock. Bryan Devendorf is a main player here, never just keeping time but actively pushing these songs around with machine precision. His fluttering tom rhythms add a heartbeat to "Squalor Victoria" and give "Brainy" its stalker tension. Padded with punchy-yet-polished production and orchestrations by Clogs' Padma Newsome, the band's intelligent, engaging songs reach deep into the heart.

lps merch -reckoning and psychological damage assessment of Alligator is replaced with a more empathetic and thoughtfully observant vantage point on this LP, and the result is even better. Berninger sounds more genuinely concerned for those around him, eschewing the accusatory you from previous albums in favor of a more genuinely understanding you, whether he's addressing friends, lovers or strangers ("Get inside their clothes with my green gloves/ Watch their videos in their chairs" on "Apartment Story").

Songs like the brooding "Mistaken for Strangers" and borderline obsessive love song "Brainy" highlight the band's remarkable dark chocolate richness, and they pull off stylistic mixtures that shouldn't work with ease. This is just a brilliant album from a band that's been growing into its powers as a fully matured act.
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