- After finishing their tour for 2017 album Sleep Well Beast, The National were gearing up for a lengthy hiatus until singer Matt Berninger received an email from director Mike Mills. The proposition was to collaborate on two separate projects of the same title: a short film and a long album. The ensuing product from the band is their sixty-eight-plus-minute album, I Am Easy To Find. Perhaps owing to its filial connection to the film, this sixteen-track offering from The National is their most cinematic LP. Although the music, composed by twins Aaron and Bryce Dessner has been meticulously crafted and layered on previous albums, the production has never been so grandiose. The result is an ambitious album that could well be regarded as The National’s masterpiece.
While the album is not a complete deviation in style from the band and is largely in the same vein as Sleep Well Beast, the most notable difference is incorporation of several female voices, including Gail Ann Dorsey, Lisa Hannigan, Sharon Van Etten, Mina Tindle and Kate Stables sharing lead and backing vocal duties with Berninger. These inclusions are a welcomed change, as they provide different dynamics to Berninger’s steady baritone. As he collaborates closely with his wife Carin on many of the lyrics, it is also fitting that there are some female voices added to the mix. Beginning with the oscillating, jaunty guitars of the Dessner brothers, You Had Your Soul With You, kicks off the album in an uncharacteristically upbeat mood. However, the melancholy of the band is never deep below the surface, Berninger crooning, “I had only one thing left and I couldn’t see it”.
More than any other National album, I Am Easy To Find is largely devoid of guitars and rock songs, with a strong reliance on pianos, strings and electronic elements filling the void. This might be responsibl for some of the apparent homogeneity, but don't worry, there are still so many stand out tracks that any fan would be hard pressed picking their favourite. Some songs, such as Rylan and Light Years have been around for years and fans will be grateful to receiving recorded versions that definitely won’t disappoint. Elsewhere, novel track Not In Kansas, is a long, lyrically dense song that has the band sounding more like Nick Cave than ever. Other songs such as The Pull of You and Hey Rosey push into Radiohead territory. Despite traversing the indie plains for much of their two-decade career, The National are no doubt one of the greatest bands operating today and I Am Easy To Find is all the proof needed.
- Jon Cloumassis.