Reviews
Ranked #14 in Uncut's "The 50 Best Albums of 2010" -- "Handled with a grandeur that posited them, belatedly, as their generation's very own R.E.M.", 4 stars out of 5 -- "At the peak moments of HIGH VIOLET, The National are magnificent. The transatlantic lament 'England' broods amid gloomy strings before erupting into the sort of ecstatic coda surely written in anticipation of being illuminated by the light of thousands of mobile phones...", "Incredibly seductive and impossibly cool....Even the catchy, perfect-world hit single 'Bloodbuzz Ohio' weds dusky grit to its sticky verses.", "The band's impeccably nuanced song-arranging instincts are one of their most remarkable gifts, and HIGH VIOLET certainly bolsters this reputation.", "'Conversation 16' offers a bruising portrait of discontent over Bryan Devendorf's pounding drums....HIGH VIOLET synthesizes the best parts of the National's past into a fantastic present.", "The National are masters of a baroque and somber indie-rock subgenre...defined by dirgelike guitars and elegiac imagery." -- Grade: B+, "The National allows itself to lose a little control, but the music gains a more honest portrayal of the harried character of heartbreak.", 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "The music is some of their lushest and darkest, especially the ghostly, droning 'Afraid of Everyone.'", "HIGH VIOLET is the sound of a band taking a mandate to be a meaningful rock band seriously....With anxious, personal songs projected onto wide screens...", "A Tight, No-Nonsense Follow-Up....Bleak As You Like, but Strangely Cathartic in Many Places.", 3 stars out of 5 -- "They fill the erstwhile emptiness with distorting guitars, strings, brass, keyboards: an ambient tangle."
