I Am Easy To Find - The National: Review

The National

are a long running Ohio based indie rock band who first received critically success in the mid 2000's and have released a series of well received indie project since then. Their last album was released in 2017 after an extended break and since then the various members have participated in a number of side project including Planetarium and Big Red Machine. After four singles that captured the attention of their fans and the broader indie community the band has returned shortly after their last project with one of their longest albums to date in I Am Easy To Find.

Review By Lavender:

Of all of the introductions I do one review after another prefacing the review with my own opinions leading up to the album I'm talking about, this one may be the most controversial. Of The National's 7 albums up to this point I really truly only consider myself an outright fan of one of them, 2007's Boxer. While some others like 2005's Alligator and 2017's Sleep Well Beast may have been solid outings they still suffered from some major issues.Those are the albums I am even tolerable of, while their early albums may be forgivable misses and 2010's High Violet has grown on me just a little, one of the most absurdly overrated projects of this entire decade lands in their discography. 2012's Trouble Will Find Me is a boring sloppy disaster that somehow tricked the indie world into believing that the vapid formless songs put together made for some kind of deep album experience. But even given how let down I was with that album and the acclaim that somehow followed it I was excited for this given that the bands last album was my favorite of theirs in a decade and that I enjoyed a few of the singles they dropped leading up to the album. Now that I Am Easy To Find is upon us in full it doesn't fall quite as flat as Trouble but at over an hour in length there are plenty of moments I wish I could forget.

The first two singles for this album set a pretty high standard for the project and really excited me for what was coming. The lead single You Brought Your Soul With You serves as the opening track and one of the most exciting National songs I've heard in a long time, maybe ever. It has a synthetic and almost robotic guitar riff that sets an excellent pace for the track and when it introduces exciting and blunt drum kicks it wraps up what is probably the most exciting instrumental here. Matt shows some life on the vocal side and excellent songwriting wraps up yet another exciting lead single from the group following the last albums The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness. The second single which alternatively serves as the closing song is another solid single Light Years. It's a well performed piano ballad that is a soft but very compelling moment to close the album off. Given how many of The National's ballads are so lifelessly underwritten that it gets difficult not to ignore them I was very happy with this track as a single and as a closer. 

Unfortunately most of this album is much closer in quality to the second two singles both of which land near the end of the tracklist. Hairpin Turn is a single that I thought was decent at first and still is in the top half of songs here, but by the point on the album where it arrives the formula has been far more than wrought dry. I still enjoy this tracks instrumental but the progression feels slow and wandering and while as a single I was more open to engaging the entire track given how much this album is filled out this track is just another tune that is too long for its own good. Finally is Rylan another thankfully decent single that set up some expectations the album can't meet. The female vocals are an excellent addition and the driving instrumental is supportive of the good lyrics and songwriting. This isn't a standout track in indie music this year by any standard for me but it wouldn't kill me to hear it again a few more times. 

Thankfully there are a few more songs here that are worth the time they take up and wouldn't kill me to hear again. Quiet Light is a switch-up from the opening track that features now synthetic drums and fantastic lyrics that tell an excellent series of stories. The female vocals are very sharp but unfortunately Matt sounds more like he's singing for The Fray sometimes but with an effective instrumental transition that makes the songs outro feel apocalyptic and atmospheric this is still a track worth remembering. Oblivious is a dreary piano ballad of which the album has plenty, but this one is essentially fronted by the female guest vocalist who does some pretty sharp harmonizing with Matt and keeps the song interesting for some but not all of it's runtime. 

The Pull Of You is another track that essentially is lead by the female vocalist. The spoken word is icy and distant in a very compelling way that I wish the band would have used on more tracks. Even though the lyrics can get a little bit literal the push and pull of the songs momentum is incredibly captivating and it is one of the standout songs here. Where Is Her Head has some explosive percussion and a really engaging vocal refrain in the second half but given that there isn't much to grab onto in the initial build of the song it is a touch longer than I would have liked. So Far So Fast is a long track that is once again patience testing but is just compelling enough for me to deem worth keeping. I like the songs distant but sharp melodies and the heavy approach to chamber pop that the band takes as well as the great lyrics and even though the track isn't perfect it is still one that I found myself being more excited to return to. 

Finally Not In Kansas became a surprise favorite of mine. I was nervous about a nearly seven minute song on this record but they actually pulled it off pretty successfully. It has one of the sharpest progressions on the entire album and a very compelling story with a multifaceted instrumental that stays interesting almost all the way throughout. I wish the track ended on more of a roar then the whimper it takes but it is still one of my favorites here.

Unfortunately there are a handful of tracks here that fully remind me why The National have been so routinely disappointing. Roman Holiday is a criminally underwritten song with no progression whatsoever where basically nothing happens and it lasts way too long. The track seems to think that vocals effects and a guests vocalist serve as a quality substitute for any semblance of songwriting. 

Hey Rosey is a song that takes absolutely forever to develop in any meaningful way and while in the meantime the instrumental is completely lifeless and the refrains are so airy and terrible that I can't fathom how this made it onto the album. Even once there is some more complex elements working into the track it is nowhere near worth the time it takes up in the tracklist. If somehow you are so compelled by the two vocalists that even hearing them singing a terrible song will do something for you than maybe give this song a go but it needs a lot more to be worthwhile.

Shockingly one of the biggest let downs here is the title track of all things which features some wandering and formless songwriting and underwhelming performances on both the vocal and instrumental fronts. There is not a single compelling or engaging thing here and I am shocked by just how vapid it is and that I haven't seen more people criticizing the albums songwriting in tracks like this. Dust Swirls In Strange Light is an interesting song that breaks the sequence of boring chamber rock songs one after another. Unfortunately the chorus vocals are mixed so low and have such an airy place in the song that the elements that are assembled can't even reach their full potential. Given that this track and a few other brief interludes on the album flirt with interesting ideas but fall short a large portion of the album is either completely forgettable poorly assembled in a way that ruins what momentum the band had developed.

I Am Easy To Find is quite the disappointment given that then era comes shortly after what was my favorite album from the band in years and also got off to a hot start with two enjoyable singles. But unfortunately while not the worst project I've ever seen the band attach their name to it falls into the same songwriting, performance and instrumental pitfalls that have made some of their projects in the past incredible slogs. When it is working at its best the album is putting together solid but completely inessential indie tunes and at its worst it is boring you to tears with songs so far removed from the structure and quality that we have come to expect in indie music that it would amaze you to see that this is one of the most acclaimed indie bands of this century so far. I have a feeling that "The National Trick" as I like to call it will take into effect again and that fans will continue to eat up whatever the group puts out but I am once again disappointed by the band after I thought they may have the opportunity to shine. 4/10

Best Track: You Brought Your Soul With You

For more indie check out my review of Mac DeMarco's Here Comes The Cowboy here.