The National – Sleep Well Beast White Vinyl LP

Description

Sleep Well Beast, the seventh album from The National. Produced by member Aaron Dessner with additional production by Matt Berninger and Bryce Dessner. The album was mixed by Peter Katis and recorded at Aarons Long Pond studio in Hudson Valley, NY. From the sombre piano chords of Nobody Else Will Be There, with a weary, hollowed-out Matt Berninger sighing: You said were not so tied together / What did you mean? its clear this is an album about separation, although Berninger has stated its not autobiographical. Strings peek into the mix as the opener builds gently to a crescendo that never arrives. A stirring example of The National as masters of restraint, it would have been entirely at home on Trouble Will Find Me. A thundering tom rhythm from the ever-innovative Bryan Devendorf ushers in Day I Die and a typically wry Berninger line: Lets get high enough to see our problems. It also introduces the first of several lacerating guitar riffs from the Dessner twins. Indeed, the album, scattered with electronic loops, is at turns both the bands most and least guitar-centric. The Crazy Horse-like solo on first single The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness tears through the heart of a song built for stadiums.