My official soundtrack for summer 2010 is The National's High Violet. Surely, I jest? "What a depressing summer soundtrack", you say. Well, you're right. The National is depressing, haunting even. But we already knew that. We knew that before we bought High Violet (and I'm assuming you did buy it), but we bought it anyway, obviously. I started my summer with a National concert and listened to High Violet pretty much every day for the rest of the season, and it's been awesome.
Matt Berninger might have the most depressing voice on my iPod, save for Stephin Merrit, but he's currently one of my favorite front-men. I love the way he wanders around on (and off ) stage while crooning and nursing a bottle of white wine. In my mind that bottle contains Pinot Grigio...
Anyway, let's ignore how "elegantly depressing" The National are for a moment; let's focus on why High Violet is the perfect summer soundtrack. You know what? Let's play it and go through song by song.
1. Terrible Love - Ah, summer lovin' is quite terrible isn't it? Especially if it's that song in Grease. Oh burn Olivia Newton! That's what you get for being annoying on Glee! But in all seriousness, that first stage of falling in love is pretty awful. That horrible feeling/obsession/nausea that keeps you from eating/sleeping/being normal sucks real bad. As Matt points out, "it takes an ocean not to break" , and though I would love to make another horrible Summer pun, I won't. I'll just point out how fucking true that lyric is. Being in love can be terrible, you feel like a crazy person.
2. Sorrow - Ok, this song is really depressing. This must be about the terrible break-up after the terrible love. But really, I think that this a great road-trip song. It's beautiful and contemplative and I find the high-pitched harmonies really dreamy. I also love Bryan Devendorf's drumming. I love that man.
3. Anyone's Ghost - Maybe I should mention that my summer doesn't involve much tanning or partying on yachts. My summer is more of a "drinking Belgian beer while watching fire-flies after a day of organometallic chemistry" sort of summer. This song seems to fit in with that. It has a muggy, almost apathetic sound but still makes me bob my head. Also, this song gets the "Best Lyric Award" for "You said it should tear a kid apart/ it does".
4. Little Faith - This song is about pyromania and pretty girls being sucked into the sky by storms.
5. Afraid of Everyone - This is actually my least favorite song on the album. Kinda whiny. But I do like that Matt doesn't "have the drugs to sort this out". Several people told me it's their favorite though, go figure.
6. Bloodbuzz Ohio - Oh hellz yes. This song rocks. This song is sexy. He lifts his shirt up. This song is catchy enough to play at your pool party, and when you do, it'll get you more indie cred than building a bookshelf out of cinder-blocks and plywood.
7. Lemonworld - Arguably the "summeriest" song on the album. Getting out of the city, drinking pricey liquor and watching sisters try on bathing suits is what I spend 87% of my summer doing. This song also contains the notable lyric featured in the title of this blarg.
8. Runaway - This quietly desperate song portrays a disarming scene from that "not-quite-a-fight" that's more emotionally draining than the real thing. The songs message does seem to be that of perseverance, but just barely. This song is fantastic all year long, both lyrically and musically.
9. Conversation 16 - There are ZOMBIES in this song! It's also pretty catchy, for how dark it is. It feels familiarly dark though, like the lyrics were something I wrote down and forgot about. I'm not sure how this relates to summer, and I was hoping you'd be distracted enough by the zombies to forget about that theme. But I've pointed it out now...
10. England - This song starts out slowly and and builds up to something grand. And it's about England, where I would much rather be during the summer months, because Florida sucks.
11. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks - I think the title should be enough for you. It's pretty awesome. This song is amazingly beautiful. I imagine it being sung around a campfire by those kids in the Walt Whitman Levi's commercials. It builds on itself exponentially (kinda like Fake Empire) and it shows that Matt Berninger has a wider (if slightly strained) vocal range than originally thought.
So there you have it, why The National's High Violet is my summer soundtrack of choice. Fuck Katie Perry and her California Gurls.
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