One of my heroes in rock & roll is The National‘s Matt Berninger. He was talking to the AV Club about the measured rise of the band. “We slowly crack; it’s never been a big explosion.”
I love the imagery of that little quote, like how I love almost all the pictures painted in their songs.
The National are great because they write smart sexy music that requires a little investment in time from the fan to appreciate. The band stays pretty consistent and on point with creating new work and has very methodically grown. Really earning the success they have. Its inspiring.
The first single from 2010’s High Violet was a song called “Bloodbuzz Ohio.” (download an MP3 here)
The song is interesting for a lot of reasons to me.
It begins with a sensual scene. The intimate and gritty real sort of life that you get up to when you’re married or in a relationship or basically not a porn star having sex. Getting ready for bed with someone you get ready for bed with everyday. Its mundane, but its also pretty.
The song then delves into the trials and stresses that we all… ok, well I do, you’re probably more financially astute than me.
“I still owe money, to the money, I owe.”
Then he escapes or has a dream where he travels back to the place where he grew up, Ohio. Neat.
On the weekend, a cover version of “Bloodbuzz” bounced around my twitter feed from Brooklyn-by-way-of-Denmark singer Oh Land. (what is it with cover songs lately? I’m really on a kick)
Oh Land’s version keeps true to the prodding pace of the original. But Oh Land has a sugar sweet voice and adds some echoey crashes and electronic bee-boops. When she sings, “Stand up straight at the foot of your love/I lift my shirt up,” its positively adorable… or it might be more so if the picture I found wasn’t some sort of fembot with feathers. Before I saw a picture of her however, I imagined some lithe hipster lovely nerd getting naked and it was a good thought.
Her version soars and is definitely lighter by the simple fact, she has a light female voice singing the words and not Berninger’s baritone saddening it up.
Oh Land – “Bloodbuzz Ohio”
Download MP3 >> Bloodbuzz-Ohio
The National make me happy, this cover makes me happy… OK good talk.
Go with yourself.
The Morning After 
[…] post: We slowly crack Uncategorizedheroes, imagery, like-how, measured, measured-rise, nation, national, never-been, […]