The National - I Am Easy To Find (May 17, 2019) Album • Page 76

Quiet. Light.

 

the So Far So Fast slander in here. insane. one of their best songs ever

 

Quiet Light, title track, and Rylan are all as good as the national gets.

 

+ Light Years

 

One day you will disappoint your wife and Oblivions and Hairpin Turns will unlock for you.

 

always loved Oblivions too. the way the pre-chorus lines kind of run together and make a different meaning depending on how you follow the line through - I'm sure there's a simple and smart term for that technique but I do not know it - is fuckin genius

It's the way that you're gonna stop needing to tell me
You want me as much as I want you to
Tell me I'm over the threshold
Everything is gonna be totally okay until oblivion

 

You had your soul, quiet light, oblivions, the pull of you, I am easy to find, hairpin turns, rylan and light years are all top tier songs of theirs.

 

Bro wtf happened in here

 

Yes. And I even like this record a good deal despite the filler

 

For me SWB and Boxer are 1a/1b then it gets really tricky

 

But REM have made at least three albums not even in the same league as any National records lol and probably more like 6-7

 

I’m open to giving REM another chance. I’ve loved automatic for a long time and did the important part of the discography several years ago and thought it was fine. Recently tried to run it again and I almost died of boredom on the first two albums and quit. Not sure I can think of a classic band I get less.

 

Do you like New Adventures in Hi Fi? Those two are sort of the lynch pin in my slow-to-grow love for the band. But I do also dig the early records a ton, so I’m not sure if maybe you genuinely just like Automatic and don’t have any use for the rest.

 

Reckoning is my favorite so I can’t fathom thinking it’s boring but do try Lifes Rich Pageant again. Side A in particular is stunning imo

 

Of course. But the National haven’t reached their own version of Up > Reveal > Around the Sun > Accelerate period where the band openly admits they messed up songs and were reacting to the lukewarm reception of the previous album. IAETF, whether you like it or not, is the band in full control of their art and firing at all cylinders, even if those cylinders happen to be slower and feature guest vocalists.

 

I like IAETF. I said that just up there. If you made me make a list of my favorite National songs, IAETF tracks would be disproportionately represented. But I’d rather sit down and listen to Accelerate all the way through most days than IAETF for whatever that’s worth (very little! why is this comparison happening?)

I don’t want to pick nits over this but “firing at all cylinders” and “in full control of their art” really don’t mean anything to me. Those are just as subjective as “I like this” or “I think this sucks” imo. For every REM fan willing to tell you Monster is an abomination and there’s a reason it’s omnipresent in used CD bins there’s another fan (me!) who thinks it’s among their best albums. I imagine that will be true of IAETF regardless of where this band goes next, clearly it’s polarizing

 

Anyway if y’all want my truly controversial National take, I’m pretty sure I like Sad Songs more than TWFM at this point

 

Sad Songs rips, it's true

 

same

 

The songs I really like on this album are:

You Had Your Soul With You
Quiet Light
I Am Easy To Find
Where Is Her Head
Rylan
Light Years

 

Man, Accelerate is fucking awesome.

I actually feel pretty similarly about Up to how I feel about I Am Easy To Find, in that there are brilliant pieces, but the whole is just too long and a little bit boring.

(I also genuinely love Around The Sun and like Reveal a lot, but I know that's not a super popular take.)

 

Lisa Hannigan sounds like god on this track. I’m not a big IAETF guy but that track rocks.

 

Turtleneck rules, that is the controversial opinion i have according to all the National fans in my life.

 

im a good husband but i guess we are built different

 

do i have to read the boxer track list at you lol