Underdogs no more, The National's melancholy music now sits slightly uncomfortably with their success, including a number three album here and in the US.
Employing self-aware humour for this quandary, Matt Berninger described indie ballad I Need My Girl as having just a “little bit of self-loathing”. It was one of several spellbinding songs from the Brooklyn band’s new album, Trouble Will Find Me, and their maturing talent was apparent in the beguiling time signature of Demons, the stately Sea of Love and the piano-led Pink Rabbits.
The previous record provided the evening’s first forlorn anthems: Berninger sang a terse baritone over clattering beats on Bloodbuzz Ohio while Afraid of Everyone, about becoming a father, had a weary grandeur. The stooping, bespectacled singer resembled an academic more than a rock star but he screamed violently over surging brass and the Dessner twins’ squally guitars on Squalor Victoria, and destroyed a microphone stand.
Swigging wine from a bottle for Dutch courage during the encore of Mr November, Berninger strode into the crowd to be mobbed like a hero. Good practice for their Alexandra Palace gigs this autumn.
