While I probably don't need to alert anyone to listen to The National considering their mainstream and indie success, it seems like recommending their first album is like recommending a completely different band. The National's latest albums, namely High Violet and Boxer, are great albums in their own regards, but they sound incredibly polished and subdued compared to this album. What makes this album so appealing is that it is just really bitter raw alt-country music. They used to wear their emotions a little better by not being quite as good at translating the message of the song directly in to a neatly packaged rock hook. This was before they quit their day jobs, here they toured while working 9 to 5 jobs. Their songs about the beat down of everyday white collar work are a lot more relatable because of still being there. On "The Theory of the Crows" he yells about how he's "sucked off investors and sucked off VC's" and how he is "losing his posture from time on his knees." Whether or not objectively better or worse, they just simply couldn't get away with these lyrics in their current state of popularity. So regardless of buying in to the current The National hype, I'd highly recommend this album because it has a truly unique sound of men going to day jobs they hate and coming home bitter and ready to make Americana country.
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