I Am Easy to Find by The National

Like my 2018 top 10, the top 10 of 2019 is chock full of former #1 artists, still out there producing stellar, boundary-pushing music. Like Elbow and Bon Iver, The National have consistently been in the top 10 with every release they’ve had during the life of The Bacon Review Top 31. It’s quite easy to argue that The National’s output has somehow gotten better with each release, despite having been #1 back in 2010, with High Violet. Their 2013 release, Trouble Will Find Me, was #2 to Phosphorescent’s all-time great album Muchacho, and their 2017 release, Sleep Well Beast, was #4, behind stellar output from Arcade Fire, Rostam, and Elbow. Yes, The National‘s output has gotten better with time, but the competition has gotten even better than that.

I Am Easy to Find, the eighth full-length album the band has released in their 21-year history, is yet another fantastic National album. It also marks a distinct departure for the band, veering off into territory they’ve never been in before. For starters, they’ve brought in a number of co- and lead vocalists to pair up with Matt Berninger, who embodies roughly half of the band’s lyrical output (with his wife Carin Besser) and their singular, deep-voiced lead singer. Gail Ann Dorsey, David Bowie’s long-time bassist and backing singer, takes the lead vocals from him halfway through the album’s opening song, “You Had Your Soul With You.” By the time you get through the all 63 minutes of the album, you’ve also heard Lisa Hannigan, Mina Tindle, Kate Stables, Sharon Van Etten, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus all take turns at the mic. It’s unexpected at every point of departure, and it works so well.

In addition to the beautiful music, the band also teamed up with Miranda July’s husband, filmmaker Mike Mills (did you see “Thumbsucker?”), to collaborate on not only the crafting of the album but the making of a 25-minute film starring Alicia Vikander (from “Ex Machina”). The film is quite moving, having Vikander portray the full life of a person, from baby to old age. The video above, for the quietly lovely “Light Years,” shows a condensed version of the film. Watch that, and then go watch the full thing.

At its core, The National continues to be Berninger and brothers Dessner (Aaron and Bryce) and Devendorf (Bryan and Scott). 2019 was a particularly busy year for the band. In addition to releasing the new album and film and touring around that new release:

the band participated in a podcast about them: Coffee & Flowers, “a long-form examination of the Grammy-winning band’s music, going one album per season, one track per episode.”
they released a cassette-based live album in a way only The National could: Juicy Sonic Magic was recorded over two nights at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, California, in a style known as “The Mike Millard Method” — Mike was a famous bootlegger who went so far as to sneak recording equipment into shows in a wheelchair he didn’t medically need.
Bryce Dessner wrote the score for the great Netflix movie The Two Popes
Matt Berninger appeared and sang in (with Phoebe Bridgers) the rather terrible movie version of Zach Galifianakis’s long-running internet show “Between Two Ferns”

I Am Easy to Find is not your typical National album, in all the right ways. If you’re not a fan of the band, this may be your best chance at getting in on something new, different, and great without it feeling too much like a National record. And if you are a National fan? What the hell are you doing, sitting here reading this article, rather than listening to the album?

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7. 5 + 7 by Sault
8. Giants of All Sizes by Elbow
9. i,i by Bon Iver
10. Kiwanuka by Michael Kiwanuka
11. The Destroyer (Parts 1 + 2) by TR/ST
12. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? by Billie Eilish
13. Cheap Queen by King Princess
14. Anima by Thom Yorke
15. Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Parts 1 + 2 by Foals
16. Gallipoli by Beirut
17. My Finest Work Yet by Andrew Bird
18. Four of Arrows by Great Grandpa
19. Designer by Aldous Harding
20. Norman Fucking Rockwell! by Lana Del Rey
21. Our Pathetic Age by DJ Shadow
22. Juice B Crypts by Battles
23. Pony by Orville Peck
24. Hyperspace by Beck
25. Eraserland by Strand of Oaks
26. Dogrel by Fontaines DC
27. You’re the Man by Marvin Gaye
28. Big Wows by Stealing Sheep
29. 1000 gecs by 100 gecs
30. In the Morse Code of Brake Lights by The New Pornographers
31. Radiant Dawn by Operators

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