 "Photo: Photo courtesy of Beggars Group")
It's ironic that Matt Berninger of The National said he was standing a stone's throw away from Dallas' infamous grassy knoll during his interview. As suggested by its name, The National is a band absorbed in American culture - in fact, the band's success story seems to be the stuff of high school American Lit. All four members are Cincinnati natives who moved to Brooklyn, where they met, formed The National - originally called American Mary - and started making music.
The National has come a long way since then, as the band embarks on a massive North American tour, stopping at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on Friday before jumping across the pond for an extended European tour. Boasting an impressive roster of indie darlings The White Rabbits, St. Vincent and The Rosebuds as openers, the band is promoting its fourth album, "Boxer," a hauntingly spare and painfully poignant record that has landed the band in a long overdue spotlight. The National is composed of Berninger, the baritone lead singer with a voice to rival Johnny Cash, guitarists Aaron and Bryce Dessner and drummer Bryan Devendorf.
Since the release of "Boxer," the band has made several television and radio appearances and opened on a few occasions for Arcade Fire's national tour. Berninger said the experience has been both validating and surreal.
"For a long time we were so under the radar, we had a small group of loyal fans, and we didn't know what would happen to us," Berninger said.
One of the pivotal moments in the band's career was deciding to tour with a small band called Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.
"People would leave before we came on," Berninger said. "But the ones that stuck around really got us a lot of exposure. We had some awkward nights, but we were so happy to be on that tour."
Although acclaimed by critics, "Boxer" has been interpreted in various ways. At first listen, the biggest theme on the album is a general lament over the current state of affairs in America, although Berninger offered up a different take.
"There are a lot of songs
acknowledging political things, but it's not a political album at all," he said. "Also, I've gotten a lot of morbid, morose and none of us thought of it that way - I can see that opinion, and I see where it's coming from with respect to all the darker corners, but I think the record has as much humor and levity as melodrama."
Berninger said much of the material for "Boxer" came from the band's experiences touring for its previous album, "Alligator," and especially the return to normal life after being on the road.
"When you're on tour, you're living the same day over and over again, and that's not real life," he said. "You know, people have been saying that the lyrics are meditative and hypnotic and more reserved, and we needed to figure things out again. So, yeah a lot of the songs are about escape or getting your brain back and reconnecting."
