Album Review: “High Violet” by The National

It took me a few listen-throughs of this album before I started to find the emotional anchor points, the ideas and images that I connected to. Every album by The National has been this way for me, and High Violet is no exception.

There’s a oddness to some of the lyrical imagery that proves difficult for me to fully accept, like “It’s a terrible love and I’m walking with spiders”. I can’t understand how one would walk with spiders, or what that could mean in respect to his terrible love, so I let it pass me by. But by the third track in the album, “Afraid of Everyone” I found the hook.

Songs that bring me back to listen again and again are the ones that I can empathize with, and the line “With my kid on my shoulders I try not to hurt anyone that I like” was the empathy trigger. Every parent wants to be a good and kind role model for their child, but we’re still human and caught up in the complexities of social interaction. There’s a desperation in that line that I find compelling.

Even though there are a few examples of metaphors that don’t hit home for me (“Carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees” is another one), there’s enough emotion and storytelling in the album to bring me back for repeated listening. Sonically, the songs are well crafted and big. There is both a  lush quality and a chaos, and a hint of dissonance that mirrors the unravelling in the lyrics.

Ultimately, if you already have a place in your heart for The National, this album will quickly fit in to that cubbyhole. If you’re new to the band, give the album some time to breathe and work its way into your heart. 7 out of 10.

This too Shall Pass

Parenthood is a swirling, confusing maelstrom of sudden and inexplicable changes. It’s like going to war: no matter how much training and practice you have beforehand, you’re stunned and overwhelmed as soon as the real shooting starts. I always thought that the advice being given by parenting classes, books and other parents seemed unnecessarily vague, but now I know why they were that way. Every baby is different, and they change their stripes every few hours when they’re very young.  Nap time was noon today? Tomorrow it will be 2PM. Or 11AM. Or there won’t be any nap at all.

This erratic lifestyle really clashed with my need for stability and predictability in the early days of life with Max, and my stress was very high. Now that he’s older and I’m more relaxed, I’ve found a good comfort zone between getting things done and not sweating the small stuff. I can finally roll into bed after a tough day and think to myself  “this won’t last forever, so there’s no need to get worked up”.  And amazingly, it works. And now, I’m off to shampoo the carpets ( a casuality of our first attempts at potty training).

Video Game review – Green Day: Rock Band

Put this game directly into the ‘for serious fans’ bucket right away. Green Day: Rock Band is a lot of Green Day for any one person, so prepare yourself before jumping in.

The presentation, technical details, and overall presentation are good, but any music game is only as good as its set list. I thought I was a Green Day fan, but it turns out my fandom doesn’t sustain itself when you get into the deeper album cuts.
It didn’t help that there was one song on the first level that was too much for me on ‘hard’ difficulty. Despite my fairly respectable Rock band drum chops and my chum’s considerable guitar prowess, we flunked out of ‘F.O.D.’ repeatedly. I wasn’t ready to be challenged that severely within 15 minutes of playing the game.

Another drawback for everyone except the Green Day fans is the ‘collectibles’ rewards. Letting me unlock yet another set of pictures of the band looking and acting stupid isn’t really what I’d call a “reward”.

So, if you love Green Day, or you want to fatten up your Rock Band song library, then pick this game up. If not, just grab the few songs you really want and skip the rest. 5 out of 10.