I Am Easy To Find
by The National

From Brad1770 TOP 100 COMMENTER 10/27/2019 10:49 | #244159 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

The National have 3 albums inside the BEA overall 500 which is no mean feat but this album won’t make number 4

For starters it’s too long , a good 20 minutes too long . The instrumentals along with 3 other tracks ( suggest “Roman Holiday” , “Where Is Her Head” and “ So Far So Fast “) could have found their way onto an Expanded Edition and off the album proper and it would have felt much tighter as opposed to what feels like a rambling 63 minute slog

Secondly the miss fires are big miss fires , all skipable tracks . Too many of these to endure

There are though some gems here to enjoy - “ The Pull Of You” , the beautiful title track , “ Not In Kansas” ( love the REM references “ Begin The Begin” and “ The Flowers Of Guatemala”... the flowers cover over everything... both from REM’ ‘ Life’s Rich Pagent’ album) and course “Rylan” and closer “Light Years”

A National album not appearing on my year end best list , who would have thunk it ? In 2019 it’s happening.

From lleon79 TOP 100 COMMENTER 05/17/2019 03:39 | #236330 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

After having listened to this 6+ times over the past couple of days I can firmly say that this is one of the best records The National has ever produced. I loved every second of this from the very beginning, and every time I've listened to it my love has only grown.

Although it isn't necessary, one can better understand I Am Easy To Find if seen as a companion to the short film and vice-versa. They compliment each other in a magnificent way. Providing not only imagery but context for the lyrics, which are some of the best the band has ever written. In "Quiet Light", the first verse struck a chord with me as few other songs in their catalogue have done.

This album shows us that The National can still evolve as a band, incorporating new elements into their songwriting but still maintaining their own style.

The guest vocals don't feel alien, but compliment Matt's voice in the best way possible. The contrast between high and low tones makes every song reach deeper into the soul. This synergy is best heard in "Where Is Her Head", an extremely energetic song about parent paranoia.

I Am Easy To Find is a record about marriage (oh, surprise) and about being a parent. The tracklist follows a narrative; it has a three-act structure that shows us the evolution of the narrator through all of his dilemmas, and when you realize you've reached "Light Years", you can contemplate what a beautiful experience you just had.

The strings, the arrengements, everything in here is extremely well done. It may feel somehow long at first, but the more you listen to it, the more it grows on you and it's when you can start dissecting the songs at a deeper level.

I Am Easy To Find is my favorite record of 2019 and it may become one of my all-time favorites this decade. In my opinion, it doesn't top Boxer or High Violet, but it's still an almost-perfect album. A very beautiful experience that only gets better with time. I may raise my 90 to a 95 soon.

Since 2010's High Violet, it feels like albums by the National have steadily had fewer and fewer memorable songs. The more they've honed in on the gracious, chamber dad rock sound we're now accustomed to, the more their songs have blurred into a sort of homogeneous beige velvet. If The National's post-2010 output was a flavour,it would be vanilla - the finest, homemade Florentine gelato vanilla with gorgeous texture and gorgeous consistency, but still vanilla. Sleep Well Beast was a neccessary detour, and it was interesting to hear them embrace electronic music - even if it sounded like they weren't quite sure what to do with it. Now the National are back with a new album, complete with title and artwork that could leave someone only moderately aquianted with the band thinking "wasn't this album released 6 years ago". I Am Easy to Find is in fact another slight side-step for the band, this time Matt Berninger's handsome croon is complimented by some female vocalists and his wife has penned a couple sheets of lyrics herself. The result is something that sounds exactly as you'd expect. It's disappointing the National haven't continued further down the electronic route, finding a way to adapt their sound to electronic music rather than the attempt at the vice versa on SWB. No tracks here really blow me away at all, not even closer Light Years which is the closest they come to the vulnerable sentimentality they have such a dab hand in. All in quite a drab, dissapointing affair for a band whose music I do hold very dear.

From Strangel TOP 100 COMMENTER 07/01/2019 02:25 | #238705 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Another beautifully composed album, but this time the female vocal gives a nice contrast and the hushed tones seem more evident. Their albums are never meant to hit you with obvious immediate standout tracks. I’m amazed at how often a track of theirs will only stand out to me months down the track and often when I’m not even listening to the album.

Unfortunately, this album let me down. While Sleep Well Beast was easily one of The National's greatest achievements, this record feels rather dull and repetitive. Standout tracks are "Rylan", "The Pull Of You", and "Light Years". Everything else is pretty, but also boring.

Changing "Sometimes I Don't Think", a live fan favorite, into "The Pull Of You" was a mistake, despite the fact that the latter is still pretty good. It went from a visceral, kinetic jam to a mellow, meandering tune - just like every other song on the record.

6/10 or 7/10. Good, but not great.