The National is a group with a long and rich history of creativity and excellence. While Sleep Well Beast is their first noted critical success, having won the Grammy award for best Alternative album in 2017, other albums have become cult favorites over the years.
Boxer, my introduction to the sounds of The National in 2015, is an album that has garnered such attention. The clean and polished instrumentation and composition, coupled with Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner’s legendary songwriting, brought the album to be a personal favorite from years.
However, the National spend much of their discography unplugged. Boxer and the Cherry Tree Live Sessions are two obvious examples, where the raw sounds of pianos, guitars, and a drum set punctuate Berninger’s thrumming vocal melodies. On Sleep Well Beast, we see a notable change in the production value and instrumentation. The Dessner brothers begin to utilize electric guitars and an electronic drum kit to produce a sound that’s bolder and more flamboyant, and Berninger ramps up his delivery and volume on many of the tracks.
Whereas on the two aforementioned albums, Berninger, through both songwriting and tone, comes off as a calming and supportive force. Especially on Boxer, tracks like “Green Gloves” and “Guest Room” are assurances to the listener that everything will be alright in the end. However, while the themes may change between songs, Berninger’s intonation stays similar throughout the runtime. This leads to a fluid and coherent sound, of course, but the creation of Sleep Well Beast shows a side of the singer that would have been great to see come out at points on earlier records.
Berninger has stated that many of the tracks on SWB are real experiences, stemming from real fights that he has endured with his wife. Songs like “Day I Die”, “Guilty Party”, and “Turtleneck”, display Berninger’s frustration in his relationship, alongside a robust melancholy. This mix of emotions seems to stem from the fragility Berninger feels in his relationship. Specifically on “Day I Die”, Berninger questions whether or not this person which he has chosen to spend the rest of his life with truly will love him forever. Questioning “The day I die, the day I die/where will we be”, and talking a fair bit about how his partner sometimes does things that aggravate him, he sees their future as friable and uncertain.
Of course, coupled with Berninger’s increased emotional intensity and more powerful delivery, the drums rattle and guitars roar on “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness” and “Turtleneck”, enforcing the charged messages which those songs impart. The electric licks on each song elevate Berninger’s charged messages, and it’s obvious that he feels some release with the semi-shouted vocals.
On Sleep Well Beast, we are given a window into a relationship with its fair share of trials and tribulations. The album cover is intentional, of course; the dark house with only one light on is symbolic to the microcosm of Matt and his wife’s relation that shines through on this album.
While it comes nearer to the start of the album, “Born to Beg” comes across as the perfect finisher. A beautiful set of verses that encapsulate much if what was talked about throughout the runtime, with a beautiful minor chord progression. This is probably my favorite song on the album, and one that I have listened to to absolute death. The chorus is a passionate but resigned release of emotion and sentiment, in which Berninger admits that he knows their relationship will never end. Ultimately, while they face a mountain of problems, he’ll “cry, crawl… do it all” to stay with her.
Felix H
