Trouble Will Find Me
by The National

Man, I'm too effing lazy (plus im pretty ignorant and full of shit) to write a long, big and precise review about this album, or make a long comment of any kind saying things like "the time signatures remind me of Leonard Cohen covering William Basinski plus Hijokaidan but, you know, black"; so, I'll cut the crap and go to the point. But i should do that in the next paragraph.

To make short things long, since I first listened to this last Sunday I've done only two things: a) listen to this record more times than my limited mind could count; b) listen to other the National records just too many fucking times, but not in a manner of "ZOMGZOMG OMG Oh man they r great man they r tha bestz band evar! like the new pavementz or sth", no, i listened just in a kind of scientific, pretentious and explorative manner, like a ice queen and all that shit, so, no attachments to The National (strange thing, not sure how I got there).

So this pointless comment is my analysis of the results thrown by this two things I've done last week (I forgot to mention that I also slept twice, plus I almost got run down by a school bus but, hey! who fucking cares?), so, the results are this

Well, the first time i listened to Trouble Will Find Me I was fucking scared. In my chart, when Boxer was included around spot 30 for the "all time greatest", it read "Could it [The National] turn to be the best band of the 2010s? That is to be seen." So, man, make yourself the picture: a scared boy with ridiculously big headphones sitting in the corner of a dim-lighted room, eyes wide open, big hunch on his back and skinny trembling hands (he is probably peeling a banana and drinking some crap coffee), and, as he was doing all this, thinking "Man, I was so fucking naive. They are not so great, man, they actually are crap. High Violet was crap anyway. Now that you mention it, so was Boxer".

So, shit, I was fucking scared. So I forced myself to listen to Trouble Will Find Me around a fucking hundred times. And along it I took a break and listened to Alligator, Boxer and High Violet also around a fucking hundred times (after all, what is a hundred? Not sure. Dropped out at age 9). So, this was my paradigm: "Boxer is great, the 4rth or 5th best of the decade. Alligator is Ok. High Violet sucks, and sooo hard man, I mean, it has Sorrow, Anyone's Ghost and Lemonworld. And, shit, I dont know what to think about this album. And, man, Pitchfork hasn't made a review about it! PANIC!!!!". Yeah, that was what I was standing over about, what, 3 days ago? Well, so, finally, the fucking results of my so called pretentious, arrogant and fucking haughty "analysis" (Yeah, I said analysis. Pretty hardcore stuff).

The results: Boxer is not that great, it becomes better when chopped off and cut to around 5 tunes, including Fake Empire, Slow Show, and you know, etc. And the lyrics... wait, what the fuck I'm talking about? I'm a fucking actor! Sir, my english comprehension is so subpar (wow! I managed to say that!) that I don't understand no shit. On any song. By any artist. Even coldplay. So, what the fuck? But still, man, I had to say it: the lyrics of Boxer are great. Kudos to that 29 Years and dreams stuff. Probably the best shit around. But, returning to my complex and shitty comprehension thread, Boxer is now not so great to me. Alligator, on the other hand, is better. The rawer sound makes it for me, and is kind of a novelty thing. And, shit, I understood just the fucking opposite thing to that which Matt was singing in the Geese of Beverly Road that I though "Wow, man... BOLD!", but, I mean, I understood something sooooo random that its hilarious, like, way hilarious. Say, you say "Hi, m'boy" and I, more often than not, may understand something like "You are in Salzburg, Maryland" and inmediately smile in awe, mouth half open, saying to myself "Look! You understood even the shit out of it. You are great. You are an english behemoth. Nothing can stop you". So, Alligator is better than Boxer. And what about High Violet? I though it was shit. Like, raw shit. The kind you collect in black bags and, with relief, give to a man with a big truck which in turn is full of shit. So, what the fuck? Man, that was a week ago. Want to know what I think now? High Violet is great, man. Anyone's Ghost is crap, you are right about that, but, man, even Sorrow is great! and the Vanderlyle Crybabycry shit is perfect, Geek-made. So, yeah! Better than Boxer!!!! OMG!! Kind of it.

And, what about Trouble Will Find Me? Do I still feel scared? No way. Not in a thousand dot thirty three miles. (Is that correct? I was trying to say "no way" in a fancy, corny way. You know, all to what I aim in life is to be cool and be part of a cool social circle). So, got the message? TROUBLE WILL FIND ME IS FUCKING GREAT. I MEAN IT, MAAAAN ( ---> OMGOMGOMG!! JOHNY ROTTEN REFERENCE RIGHT THERE!!! SO COOL!!). Really. Not fucking scared anymore. The last album by The National is also their best.

Ripping off an idea I read somewhere, the National's albums come in pairs, and this clearly is paired with High Violet (im still surprised some compare it with Boxer). This is somewhat similar to High Violet in that aural, spacey sound, but has been developed to a point its a bit different. Not sure if more polished. Still similar. But, let me say it, better! Really.

Why is it better? Umm. Can't say that. Fellow members, I'm sure, can make a point of it. I can say which are my favorite tracks: I Need My Girl, Pink Rabbits, but, really, after all, who gives a fuck? The worst track must be Demons. Yeah. That is a paper trash. But full of shit. What the fuck, man? Demons? Really? Turn around for a second and you may find Doug Yule himself being the fucking songwriter for that. And including a subliminal message of a Empire State Building handjob in the lyrics. Make sure you don't play the song in rewind-style.

So, man, what is this shit? No cliches or corny words intended here. If I include them, it's because I'm fucking stupid and my knowledge of the english language is so limited as a Crunkcore band frontman's songwriting (OMG!!! He's sooo amusing! Did you actually check that?). So, again, what is this shit?? Listening to this album has completly shifted a series of ideas I was standing on when rating albums and making best-ever charts. It's a complete switch. You know, neuroplasticity and knowledge shaping your brain and all that shit. It actually happened here. In the course of a week. Synapsis, was that the word? I mean, my paradigm on what is great changed. So will my fucking chart.

Wow, man, look at what I wrote. Should give this to my future boss at the first meeting. "Hey, Dick! Check this boy out! Neuroplasticity. Synapsis. Doug Yule. Handjobs. Shit! Never met someone this bright. Must be the subject of his thesis. Ph. D., I guess. Probably Harvard. Or Cal Tech."

Yeah, I made it, I fucking wrote in english. I'll probably be pasting this over RateYourMusic like, a thousand times, and then printing it and showing it off to my mom.
And, remember: Boxer is not that great. Alligator and High Violet are.

But, the most important: this is the best National album. Don't be afraid: I mean it, and from my heart. (and, given the context, my neurons, if I still have any left.)

This album is absolutely stunning. Front to back this is The National's most cohesive album by quite a margin. I'm a huge fan of "Boxer" and "High Violet" so my expectations were extremely high and amazingly they have been surpassed. The musical arrangements on TWFM are absolutely gorgeous and Matt's lyrics have gone to another level and become even more introspective and personal. Personal favorites off this album for me are "Sea Of Love", "This Is The Last Time", "Graceless", "Humiliation" and "Pink Rabbits" just to name a few. Easily AOTY so far and I honestly cant see another LP topping this. The National have done it again. (Edited)

From RockyRaccoon TOP 100 COMMENTER 07/09/2013 19:06 | #80695 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Finally, The National have made the album I always knew they were capable of making. Their past two albums have all been very good, but nothing too amazing, but there was a lot of potential that I could hear there. But now, with “Trouble Will Find Me", they’ve finally realized that potential and created an incredible album with it. Beautifully introspective, the music plays right into Matt Berninger’s baritone voice and blends together to make a beautiful coherent piece.

Perhaps one of my favorite things about this album are the peripherals, the things that are going on instrumentally in the background. They’re not the focus of the songs, but they enhance the songs so much. This is what The National is capable of and I am so glad they’ve made this album. (Edited)

From buzzdainer TOP 100 COMMENTER 07/08/2017 23:05 | #193946 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Trouble Will Find Me is a solid and reliable album by The National, not quite as outstanding as Boxer or Alligator, but still one of the best albums of 2013. This album finds Matt Berninger and company settling into a songwriting groove that feels like it could be sustainable for many years to come, as it combines just the right elements of familiarity and inventiveness to continue to be a successful formula in the "indie" zone somewhere between rock and folk. The song on this album that lifts it beyond "merely good" to "really good" is "I Need My Girl," with its lyrics consistent with the existential dread implied in the album's title: "Remember when you lost your shit and / Drove the car into the garden? / And you got out and said I’m sorry / To the vines and no one saw it / I need my girl." Hearing these lines, I can't help thinking about the way we accept the people we love for who they are, even if they incline sometimes toward recklessness--because, well they're the kind of people who'd apologize to vines. I know that feeling very well. (Edited)

To all those who hate it, GIVE IT ANOTHER LISTEN! There's always something that'll catch your ear and have you returning to listen to this great album again