The National - Boxer

It was a review in Rolling Stone that turned me on to this album - it described The National as a cross between Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I'm often a little wary of these things - I'm thinking of the time I got suckered into watching "The Machinist" because of the "Memento meets Fight Club" quote on the front cover of the DVD - but this did grab my attention. I downloaded the album later that night and have been listening to it for the last week or so.

I can't really argue with the Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave comparisons - this is dark music, sung in a deep baritone. But the band they remind me of more are Interpol, if Interpol gave up their electric guitars. There's a bit of a Murder by Death feel too - the instrumentation is largely acoustic, with guitar, bass and drums accentuated with strings, piano and even brass. The other band that they remind me of a little are Radiohead, in terms of some of the rhythms. So if you're looking for something that sounds like Leonard Cohen meets Nick Cave meets Interpol meets Murder by Death meets Radiohead, you could do a lot worse than this.

Below is a clip from the album, this is their song Mistaken for Strangers (in typical fashion, even though it's their single it's not even close to being the best song on the album).