The National on Xanax

The artists formerly known as We Are Augustines kick of their new record ready to fill some stadiums and touch some teenaged hearts. Think of everything you like about the National, the spacious, swelling instrumentation, the husky/grumbling vocals, but instead of being so sad, so very, very sad, it‰’s all anthemic to a fault. Augustines are graduates of the U2 school of grandiose song writing, and every song is so, so, BIG and has more “woah-oh, woah-ohs‰” and “hoo-ahs‰” than you‰’ll know what to do with. Sometimes this is legitimately enthralling and propulsive, like on highlights “Nothing to Lose Your Head‰” and “Don‰’t You Look Back,‰” and even works on sadder tracks like “This Ain‰’t Me.‰” Other times, it feels like their overdoing it. Augustines seem like they have a good thing going, they just need to realize all of those vocalizations aren‰’t as profound as they seem.

RIYL: Frightened Rabbit, The National, U2
Recommended: 3, 5, 7, 8