Their self-titled debut album"The National" (Brassland 2001) was recorded and released before they had played even a single show. They cut the album with engineer Nick Lloyd and formed a label with writer Alec Bemis, so those recordings could be released. Kerrang! magazine gave it four Ks, calling it "the stuff underground legends are made of."
The National made a second album, "Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers" (Brassland/Talitres 2003). The staff was the same, though Peter Katis, who produced "Turn on The Bright Lights" and "Antics" by Interpol, helped produce and mix, and Australian composer Padma Newsome from Clogs collaborated on arrangements and strings.
Following the first session of several for Bernard Lenoir on France's Radio Inter, an in-between EP was released, Cherry Tree, containing what would become the blueprint for the sound on their next record and the session of Sad Song's standout Murder Me Rachael. After these accolades and being impressed by their live show, Roger Trust signed them to Beggars Banquet.
A show at their favorite bar became a van ride to neighboring cities, became a plane ride to Europe, became two summers overseas. Their ties to those good jobs slackened. And they continue on their own path, moving out even further out in Brooklyn to Ditmas Park, where there is space and familiar suburban streets and even Geese on Beverly Road. Their album, "Alligator", much of which was recorded at their homes in Ditmas Park, was engineered by Paul Mahajan, who has worked with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on the Radio. Padma Newsome camped out for a month with the band, and Peter Katis added more production and mixed the record at his house in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Berninger's potent baritone still intones about matters fraught and funny and sad; about record collections, missing persons and medium-sized American hearts. But the record's not simply gothic or miserablist -- more like the plays of Tennessee Williams, it's full of peculiar intimacies and awkward grace. Alligator's heroes are reckless and possessed seducers, but they are apologetic ones. In The National's imaginings, in songs alternately lush and spare, there is something twighlit and dreamy worked out in the basement of our brains.
"Abel," "Secret Meeting," and "Lit Up" were released as singles.
On May 22, 2007, The National released their follow-up to Alligator, Boxer, on Beggars Banquet. Taking advantage of the fact that nobody had heard their first album and earliest demos, Matt proceeded to steal lyrics and melodies from them and give them the attention they deserved while keeping the intimacy that made them special. They even managed to convince new friend Sufjan Stevens to lay down some piano tracks for them, and recorded the album in a scant 6 months after coming off the long post-Alligator road.
"Mistaken for Strangers", "Fake Empire" and "Apartment Story" have been released as singles. The band have just finished touring North America and are on a large European autumn/winter tour after playing high slots at several large festivals. In their Dec. 07/Jan. 08 issue, Paste magazine named Boxer best record of 2007.
The band's fifth album, High Violet, was released on May 10, 2010 by 4AD Records. "Bloodbuzz Ohio", "Anyone's Ghost" and "Terrible Love" were released as singles.
In 2013 their sixth studio record Trouble Will Find Me was released and named "Best New Music" by Pitchfork. The album contained the single "I Need My Girl". In 2015, the album outtake "Sunshine On My Back" was released.
Four years after Trouble Will Find Me, marking the longest timespan between albums in their career so far, they released their seventh album Sleep Well Beast on September 8th, 2017 and were yet again met with great critical success.
The National homepage: http://www.americanmary.com/
The National blog http://tntl.tumblr.com
The National on Twitter http://twitter.com/TheNational
The National on Instagram http://instagram.com/TheNational
Brassland homepage: http://brassland.org/
Beggars Banquet homepage: http://www.beggars.com/
Walk Off
The National Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Carry the sleepers out into the weather
From the violet cities
The violet cities
They'll turn on their lights and open their eyes
Drop to their knees and they'll drink from the river
In the violet cities
On and on, they'll lead us on and
On and on, they'll lead us on
We'll all get high and walk off
Into the country, ridiculous country
Where the blue sky will smother us
Believe me, believe me, believe me
The blue sky will smother us
They'll open their doors and they'll sing to the sun
We don't know anymore how to glitter, we come
From the violet cities
The violet cities
If we stand there and stare and everyone's come
They may never find out that we came here at all
From the violet cities
The violet cities
On and on, they'll lead us on and
On and on, they'll lead us on
We'll all get high and walk off
Into the country, ridiculous country
Where the blue sky will smother us
Believe me, believe me, believe me
The blue sky will smother us
Believe me, believe me, believe me
The opening lines of "Walk Off" paint a picture of a street full of people waking up from sleep and carrying it outside, metaphorically suggesting that they are leaving their old lives behind. The next line "From the violet cities, the violet cities" seems to suggest that they are leaving the constraints of the cities, the hustle and bustle, behind as well. The use of the word violet may symbolize royalty, luxury, and indulgence, which could be representing the old life they are leaving behind.
The chorus repeats the phrase "on and on, they'll lead us on," which could suggest that they are following someone, somewhere, but it is not clear whom or where. Then there is the mention of getting high and walking off into the country. Here, getting high could refer to getting intoxicated with the freedom of leaving behind their old lives, and the country could symbolize a new beginning for them. The singer encourages the listener to believe that the blue sky will smother them, which could mean that they are leaving behind the urban jungle for something more natural and pure.
In the next verse, they talk about opening doors and singing to the sun, which could symbolize a rebirth and appreciation for the new world they have entered. The line "We don't know anymore how to glitter, we come from the violet cities" is talking about how the people leaving behind their old lives may not have the same glamorous lifestyle anymore, but it doesn't matter because they are happier in their newfound freedom. The last lines where they talk about standing and staring and not being found out could be seen as the fear of looking back and returning to their old lives.
Line by Line Meaning
Every house on the street will get on their feet
All the houses in the street will rise and stand up
Carry the sleepers out into the weather
They will take people who are asleep out into the open air
From the violet cities
They come from the cities that are colored violet
They'll turn on their lights and open their eyes
They will illuminate and awaken themselves
Drop to their knees and they'll drink from the river
They will kneel down and quench their thirst with water from the river
On and on, they'll lead us on and
They will continue to guide us
We'll all get high and walk off
We will become euphoric and leave
Into the country, ridiculous country
We will go to the absurd countryside
Where the blue sky will smother us
Where the vast blue sky will envelop us
Believe me, believe me, believe me
Trust me, trust me, trust me
They'll open their doors and they'll sing to the sun
They will open their doors and sing to the sun
We don't know anymore how to glitter, we come
We no longer know how to shine, we come
If we stand there and stare and everyone's come
If we stand there and stare while everybody else has already arrived
Contributed by Kaitlyn E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.