The National - Terrible Love

Our review
Customer reviews
Press release

3...according to our Business Lady on Thu 18 Nov, 2010.

Can't say I've ever paid any attention to The National mainly due to fact that they seem to blend effortlessly into the background. I remember playing a gig with them years back and thinking not much at all of the experience. Word is they're a very popular band nowadays, think I might have even seen them on Jools Holland. Anyway, this 7" isn't really changing my already set in stone opinion about the band. They create indie rock with a reliance on high drama and epic production techniques. At times they could be Interpol at their most bland or maybe Arcade Fire at a guess (I don't much go for them either). So yeah, it's a powerful yet drifting single that regular folks are gonna lap up. B-side 'You Were A Kindness' features a deep and rich vocal performance backed by a a grand piano and out-there-in-the-distance guitar and organ back-up. It's working better for me than the A-side mainly thanks to the fact that the song isn't strangulated by lame radio friendly production. Could be a lost Bad Seeds track in some ways... On the plus side the vinyl is purple.

The National release an expanded edition of their hugely successful fifth studio album ‘High Violet’, available as a double- CD package.

To coincide with this special edition, the Brooklyn five-piece also release the alternate version of ‘Terrible Love’ as a 7” single. This limited edition single (700 copies) comes backed with ‘You Were A Kindness’.

As well as the original eleven-track album, the expanded version will be come with a bonus disc of eight songs featuring an alternate version of ‘High Violet’ opening track ‘Terrible Love’, two brand new tracks ‘Wake Up Your Saints’ and ‘You Were A Kindness’, B-sides ‘Walk Off and ‘Sin-Eaters’, as well as three live recordings.

Recording for ‘High Violet’ took place at the band’s own studio in Brooklyn, with further recording and mixing at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut with Peter Katis (Interpol, Spoon).

Five friends from Cincinnati, Ohio, who met again after they all relocated to Brooklyn, New York, The National have been together since 1999. Their work has garnered critical praise and their last two albums ‘Alligator’ and ‘Boxer’ opened them to a wider audience.

Over the years The National have grown into one of the most in-demand live acts around, playing countless sell-out venues around the world and winning over a legion of fans. This winter the band return to the UK for a sold-out headline tour, culminating in three consecutive shows at the 5000-capacity O2 Brixton Academy in London.