In what is one of the most anticipated albums of the year, The National have delivered a masterwork of carefully crafted, intricate and dynamic songs. High Violet initially comes across as a bit raw and stripped down compared to their epic 2007 release, Boxer. But make no mistake; each note and sound on this album is deliberate. The essentials that were seemingly perfected on Boxer are still present but are much more subtle on High Violet. The National could have easily recreated the aesthetics of Boxer, but they are again pushing forward; pushing themselves to be better.

The opening track, “Terrible Love”, sets the stage for this tension filled album. Within this one track, you get a taste of everything High Violet has to offer. For a minute and a half, the song drones on as layers of piano and guitar tease you with what might be the melody. Out of nowhere, the song’s true nature reveals itself as an anxiety ridden guitar riff drops in. The band takes you from tromping through a swamp of muddy guitar and brooding vocals to running blindfolded across a tightrope of frantic playing that, minus the piano, you might expect to find on a Sonic Youth album. All the chaos, though, is really just a ruse. As singer Matt Berninger croons on, layers of backing vocals and piano create a counter melody that ultimately merges with the chaos to form a manic yet orchestrated climax. At the songs release, it’s evident that The National have taken what they learned over the course of their four preceding albums and elevated that knowledge to new heights.

A careful listen to High Violet bares the bands past. At first listen, most of the tracks could have easily shown up on previous albums. “Anyone’s Ghost” and “Lemonworld” have counterparts on 2003’s Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. Both “Bloodbuzz Ohio” and “Conversation 16” glance back to 2005’s Alligator. But the songs on High Violet aren’t just recreations of past glories. There is a new level of sophistication in this batch of songs. Rather than making each song a grandiose production, the band has shown a wise restraint in the arrangements. The orchestration in some of the songs is at times so delicate that it’s almost unnoticeable. On the minimalist “Runaway”, even though the horns and strings are at the heart of the song, it’s easy to get lost in the dirge and forget exactly what you are listening to.

Throughout the eleven songs that make up High Violet, there isn’t a single transgression. The album is perfectly paced; each song flows effortlessly to the next. The end result is simple phenomenal. With each album, The National has methodically evolved. High Violet is the future.