Album Review: The National Declare “I Am Easy To Find”
GOD THIS RECORD IS SYMBOLIC! Frankly, I am here for it. I love songs that make me dream of beauty; placing my mind in literal, greener pastures. With a joint film, I Am Easy To Find is The National’s most cinematic record yet; attempting to infuse even more vision to their verses.
From “Light Years” to “You Had Your Soul With You,” the message of I Am Easy To Find seems set; love is always in front of you. Yet, how you define it, deciphers whether you feel or see it. Personally, I like to believe everyone can be loved or be loving, but it is our idealized expectations on how such love formalizes that can screw relationships up. Nearly every track on I Am Easy To Find approaches this truth with lead singer Matt Berninger harmonizing with various female songstresses.
“I Am Easy To Find” – A Film by Mike Mills / An Album by The National
Admittedly, I am a sucker for a harmony between a man and woman. The singers are as such, Gail Ann Dorsey, This Is the Kit, Mina Tindle, Sharon Van Etten; Eve Owen, Lisa Hannigan, and Dianne Berkun Menake. Each of these ladies carries an ethereal voice that aptly observes the emotional intelligence of The National’s music. This band is legendary because they have made sentiments into a science. People ADORE the way their rhythms personify emotion to then have their lyrics dissect them, and I Am Easy To Find does this artfully. The vocal back and forth between Berninger and these singers gives the album mutual drama and lightness by having the heaviness of his voice/heart meet their light/ enlightening vocality.
The National – ‘Hairpin Turns’ By incorporating female singers, The National amplify the weight of their verses as contemplations upon romance and relationships. How do we make them work? How do we FEEL that they are working? I do not no one love story, especially in literature, that does not have its protagonist come across this dilemma. Hence, the beauty of The National’s I Am Easy To Find is that it comes off like a classic novel made into an album. To Buy The National’s I Am Easy To Find on May 17 Click Here.
