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The Nationals’ Searing Alligator Bites Hard After 20 Years
With the release of Alligator, The National became the heirs to the glimmering world.
The National album Alligator is 20 years old this year. After all this time it still hits like a jackhammer. When I first heard The National I was going through a watershed in my professional and personal life. Having just graduated from University a few years previously I was chasing a dream of a high paid job. I wouldn’t realise this dream until a few years later and it took me a while to realise it wasn’t a dream at all.
I had to look at my inner being and soul in order to contemplate what it was I truly wanted. I paid my bills, had a decent holiday every year and lead a comfortable life, but felt empty. This record helped me realise that this feeling was okay. Other people felt like that. Especially Matt Berninger.
Alligator is brimming with dense, slow-burning hypnotic songs that manage to creep into your brain with every listen. The best of these tracks cover a litany of human emotions ranging from romantic loss, family relationships and emotional and financial insecurity.
That isn’t to say that this record is a largely morose affair. When it rocks, it rocks like a binge-drinker at the beginning of a long weekend. Unhinged…
