The National are very much like an individual with a split personality. What am I referring to when I say this? Well, they make songs that wouldn’t look out of place for a documentary on climate change or feature on an album for tranquillity, but then Matt Berninger is a different animal onstage. Almost like the inner beast has been unleashed and the rock star attitude brought to the fore. Onstage, Matt jumps around like a hyperactive monkey on speed and interacts with the crowd. Ergo, the split personality I speak of. 

Matt has been quoted working on previous albums as saying, “How the fuck can you get wild while looking at a fucking tranquil pond out of the window?” or words to that effect. This time however, with their seventh album, “Sleep Well Beast”, they have left the peace and tranquil surroundings and recorded in the hustle and bustle of New York City, which has led this album to unleash that Rock star attitude we are familiar with during their live performances. Albeit the album takes the theme of all things middle-aged, like struggles in a marriage, relationships, feelings of regret and being too worn out to fight your corner during arguments because you’re so that fucking fed up with arguing and wasting energy that you felt was just during your younger days.

The song “Day I Die” talks about drinking or smoking weed to avoid arguments and the frustration of being irritated by your significant other but not feeling any different. However, those drugs are known to block out any worries on your mind. So ultimately, instead of helping the situation, you exacerbate it by annoying your lover.

This album feels more like a novel broken into several volumes through music. Indeed, it could well be an audiobook by Matt, and co-writer Carin Besser (How’s this for irony? That’s his wife!) concealed within an album as they frequently talk about the subject of middle age. You would have thought that this album could well end their marriage, but surprisingly none of them feels hurt by the emotions laid bare on, “Sleep Well Beast”.

At times, despite appreciating the album’s consciousness, you wish it would move onto more uptempo songs rather than the baritone vocals supplied by Matt. When the tempo does change, fuck me, it is worth it. You have the psychedelic “Turtleneck”, the Radiohead inspired, “I’ll Still Destroy You”, and the wonderful guitar solo on “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness”. The latter is my standout and the band adopting reckless abandon and showing the onstage attitude that makes their live shows so amazing. Maybe the factor for this track was because they were in the big apple. I hope the next album will feature a lot more reckless abandon and show everyone that the National are much more than a soft soul.

Overall: Surprisingly, I enjoyed the album and liked the conscious subject being narrated. Albeit, if I were at a party or something, I wouldn’t be that amused if someone rambled on me about the struggles of being middle-aged. I’d probably tell them to fuck off, in fact, and let me enjoy myself. But as mentioned, when they let go, the sound is fucking amazing, and they really take you in a different direction with plenty of rock n roll swagger on display. The guitar solo on “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness” sends chills down my spine and makes the hairs on the back of my neck and arms stand up, as well as the soaring chorus with the line, “I can’t explain it, ah ha, any other, any other way”. By the way, Matt Berninger has an uncanny resemblance to Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp.

8/10