“I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees,” sings the National‘s Matt Berninger. More than a decade after leaving its native Cincinnati for Brooklyn, the National is set to release fifth album High Violet (4AD) on May 11. Lead single “Bloodbuzz Ohio” indicates the album is less of a departure and more of a stay-at-home affair, with Berninger drawling low and metaphorically over some tension-building guitars and Bryan Devendorf’s propulsive drums. The band will bring its impressionistic brand of rock to stages in the coming months, with live dates in the U.S. and Europe sprinkled around May and June. Read our 2007 feature on the band.
“Bloodbuzz Ohio” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/BloodbuzzOhio.mp3
2 replies on “MP3 At 3PM: The National”
I’ve got my fingers crossed that Violet will be more lik Alligator and less like Boxer. The latter was pretty weak, with only maybe 3 Alligator-quality tunes on it. it took me months to even LIKE the album a little. There was too much Padma input, I think. It was so baroque sounding, it reminded me of the Left Banke.
Boxer is a great album.