In between their second and third albums, The National released the Cherry Tree EP. The first three songs mention drinking. “Wasp Nest” tells someone that “you’re cursing up a storm in a cocktail dress”, chaos over an acoustic guitar. “All The Wine” would also appear on next years Alligator album and “All Dolled-Up in Straps” adds some mournful strings that would appear a few more times.
The title track adds some intense drumming on a song where singer Matt Berninger sings that “loose lips sink ships” and “About Today” is an emotional song, asking “how close am I to losing you?”. The album then closes with the addition of Padma Newsome on the acoustically inclined “Reasonable Man (I Don’t Mind)”. The Dessner and Devendorf brothers along with Matt Berninger crafted several really good songs for this 28 minute sampler. For many fans thinking of digging deeper into the catalogue, this is more representative of their later sound and could act as their true debut.
It’s not easy for fans to separate the art from the artist. When allegations come out about a musician, the knives come out – and for good reason. In 2022, Pitchfork.com ran several stories of sexual assault allegations against Arcade Fire singer Win Butler. He denied any wrongdoing but at the time, the singer Feist decided against touring with the band and Beck also dropped out of another leg of that tour. After that, the stories seem to fade into another news cycle and the band dropped from sight for a few years.
They returned in 2025, with Butler and bandmate Regine Chassagne’s marriage still intact, along with the rest of the band – Will Butler having already left in 2021. The new album, Pink Elephant is a moody, down beat, atmospheric album that contains three instrumentals including the opener, “Open your Heart Or Die Trying” before Butler pleads on the title track to “take your mind off me”.
“Circle of Trust” adds a bit of a dance beat on a track that the married couple duets on. The same trick is applied to “I Love Her Shadow” where Butler sings, that we’re “Breaking into heaven tonight”. In the Chinese zodiac calendar, the year of the snake is associated with wisdom, transformation and introspection. At least for two of those ideals – the track of the same name sings that it’s “the season of change/and if you feel strange/it’s probably a good thing”.
Best yet is The Ronette’s like drum beat attached to “Ride or Die”. Recalling Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” in tone, Butler sings of running away with his love where he “could work in an office/you could be a waitress”. The repeat of those lines with slight changes turns into a mantra. The album closes with “Stuck In My Head” that works as a stream of conscious. At various points Butler sings “Stuck in my head, stuck in my head… mess in my head, mess in my heart… I’ll clean up this bedroom, clean up this head”. It takes on a self help book way of dealing the problem, one made bed at a time.
Reading other reviews for this album, it’s safe to say people are angry. Pink Elephant has been panned across the board, scoring mostly 50% scores. Remarkably, the album did not enter the US top 200 albums chart after the band had scored #1 albums with previous releases. It’s a spectacular fall from grace as many people were looking for apologies and a few come to Jesus moments. Instead they got mumbled declarations of being “a good boy”. Still – separating the music from the band, mostly just the one man – it’s an intriguing album that is more like minimal bedroom alt rock than uplifting stadium filler. But still – I can’t stop listening to it as I quietly whisper, “I really like it”.
The National’s third album Alligator is where the band took a massive leap forward to the sound that they would take to a much wider audience a few years later. For the first couple of albums, the musicianship lead by the Dessner and Davendorf brothers was the main while lyrist Matt Berninger found his unique voice. On Alligator, Berninger lyrics add much intrigue to several of the songs and show his growth as a musical storyteller.
A solid backbeat from Bryan Davendorf holds the lower end of the whimsical “Looking For Astronauts”. “Secret Meeting” sees some melodic guitars along with a catchy chorus. “Karen” is a particular highlight. Spoken from the point of view of a scattered brain alcoholic, it’s a mysterious story where Berninger sings – “idle, idle, idle, idle, protect the nest, protect the title”.
The band lets loose and rocks out on several tracks including the anthemic single “Lit Up” and the pent up fury of “Abel” where Berninger screams repeatedly, “My mind’s not right, my mind’s not right!”. “Baby, We’ll Be Fine” has an interesting dream verse about running into your boss before the refrain “I’m so sorry for everything” repeatedly appears. The album closes with the somewhat political “Mr. November” who promises “I won’t f*** us over”. Alligator is a really good album by a band on the verge of a breakthrough and on the cusp of indie rock greatness.
There was palpable tension with wife Amanda Shires running through the 2023 Jason Isbell documentary Running With Our Eyes Closed. It was still sad news to hear that the couple had broken up and Isbell was pursuing a new romance with painter Anna Weyant. The breakdown of one relationship and start of another runs through Isbell’s new acoustic album, Foxes in the Snow.
Once again working with engineer/producer Gena Johnson, the only sound on the album comes from Isbell. Gut wrenching songs include “Eileen” where he sings that “Eileen, you should’ve seen this coming sooner” and later, “My own behaviour was a shock to me”. “Gravelweed” touches on how love songs take on different meanings in ending relationships on a track that also alludes to a life of past drinking problems. “True Believer” is another one of these songs with lyrics so personal, it’s tough to listen to the chorus.
With a new love in his life, there are moments of lightness as well. “Ride to Robert’s” is a fun night out at the saloon with talk of a new love while “Open and Close” is directly about the Calgary born Weyant. Great moments appear everywhere including opening track “Bury Me” with it’s great chorus but the dark times are never too far away as Isbell later sings, “the thing that nearly took me out was loneliness and alcohol”.
There is nothing flashy on Foxes in the Snow, just extraordinary songwriting, great singing and some terrific guitar singing. The fact that Isbell can keep the listeners attention all the way through the album is a testament to his immense talent.
With a more serious tone, “American Tune” has a great Simon vocal on a song that was written soon after Nixon was elected. It’s a tough world politically at times “but it’s alright”. Paul Simon’s third solo album, There Goes Rhymin’ Simon opens with the classic lyric – “When I think back on all the crap I learned in high school”. Further into that #2 hit, “Kodachrome”, Simon sings of the joys and beauty of taking pictures.
Like that first song, the 1973 album is mostly an easy-going affair with subtle beats and acoustic guitars, a bit of piano. Horns add some flair to “Take Me To The Mardi Gras”, that sits in contrast to the very New York song “One Man’s Ceiling Is Another Man’s Floor” about cramped apartment living, the kind of sound Billy Joel would later ride to the top of the charts.
With a more serious tone, “American Tune” has a great Simon vocal on a song that was written soon after Nixon was elected. It’s a tough world politically at times “but it’s alright” he tells us. The infectious “Loves Me Like A Rock” closes out the album with the repeated lines of “she love me, love me, love me, love me”. There Goes Rhymin’ Simon went top 5 in most major markets around the world and is a further showcase of Simon’s songwriting that captures the thoughts and feelings of being a young man in the early 70s.
The Light Appears 