May 25th, 2007
The National - Boxer
THE NATIONAL
Boxer
Beggar’s Banquet
****
2005’s Alligator secured a universal thumbs up from music journalists and bloggers alike, and many of that critical cabal wondered if the Ohio-born Brooklyn-based five piece could possibly equal it. Kicking off with the gorgeous, piano-led Fake Empire and the Interpol-inspired Mistaken for Strangers, you begin to hope Boxer sustains this standard . and it does. The tone, varying from country gothic to dark ballads like Green Gloves, is more circumspect than its predecessor, and some of the arrangements, for all their sparseness, can stop you in your tracks. Matt Beringer’s voice has a doleful beauty, never better than on Racing Like a Pro and Ada, (both of which feature Sufjan Stevens on piano), but it’s the understated hybrid of brass, strings, piano and drums that combine into something very special. Is this one of 2007’s most inspired releases? Certainly.
Download Tracks: Fake Empire. Squalor Victoria. Mistaken for Strangers
Website: http://www.americanmary.com/
This review originally appeared, here in The Ticket, The Irish Times on Friday, May 25th, 2007