First Two Pages Of Frankenstein. The National

What I expected has happened. Matt Berninger's solo album was my way into The National. Released in the Covid pandemic, the record was all that one could wish for when in a (semi-)lockdown. Music that is soothing to the extreme.

The National is the band where Berninger is the singer. One of its other members is the omnipresent Aaron Dessner. I sometimes wonder whether there is an album he has not produced recently. Like Barry Gibb and Phil Collins for a while in the late 70s and mid-80s.

First Two Pages Of Frankenstein, yes, Mary Shelley's book, is an album that is almost as soothing. The music of The National has a bit more of an edge and is slightly darker than the solo album. The singles reviewed on the blog were a dead giveaway for what was about to happen of course. I bought the album blind, without giving it a first listen and it's been in heavy rotation in this house since.

It seems to me that for long time fans First Two Pages Of Frankenstein is only an average album by The National. For me it is the best so far, although I promise to go and do some delving. The first thing one can notice, is how many collaborations there are on the album with other singers. Sufjan Stevens, Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers, (another unavoidable artist) twice. They all adapt to the band, not the other way around.

More importantly, I notice how rich the music on this album is. Multi-layered music with lots and lots of sounds and instruments to discover with each spin. In other words, The National plays music to listen to through the headphone, secluded from all daily deliberations.

Listen to one of the singles featuring Phoebe Bridgers, 'This Isn't Helping'. The song starts and I almost need four ears already. A muted electric guitar, a piano enters, an acoustic guitar, a synth, some kind of strings, bass and drums and all (just) before Matt Berninger starts singing. More is to follow later and Ms. Bridgers. The song as such is not much more than a few chords played over and over. It is all in the arrangement that makes 'This Isn't Helping' remarkable.

It's just one example of how the music on First Two Pages Of Frankenstein plays out. I'm sort of spellbound, as if hypnotised. Yes, I can seclude myself from the world with any music by putting on a headset. And then there is music that makes me all by myself with that music, becoming a part of it as it were. The National's new album is that kind of music.

The first album's totally passed me by and somewhere in the previous decade the music just did not touch me, with the exception of one album, but not deemed good enough to buy it. That changed recently and how!

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order First Two Pages Of Frankenstein here:

https://thenational.bandcamp.com/album/first-two-pages-of-frankenstein