Release date: 11-09-2007

2007 Limited import copies of The Boxer on colored vinyl on 180 gram vinyl-The follow-up to 2005's Alligator is filled with lush arrangements and sees the band incorporating new instrumentation and expanded musical elements such as piano, trumpet, and more prominent background vocals.

...churning grooves and shambling new wave rips, turning up depressed guitar poetry that's both elegantly wasted and kinda murky

Tracks:
A1         Fake Empire         
A2         Mistaken For Strangers         
A3         Brainy         
A4         Squalor Victoria         
A5         Green Gloves         
A6         Slow Show         
B1         Apartment Story         
B2         Start A War         
B3         Guest Room         
B4         Racing Like A Pro =Piano – Padma Newsome         
B5         Ada = Piano – Padma Newsome         
B6         Gospel

The National formed in 1999, when five friends from Cincinnati, Ohio met again after all of them had relocated to Brooklyn, NY. They are Aaron Dessner (guitars, bass), Bryce Dessner (guitar), Scott Devendorf (guitar; bass), Bryan Devendorf (drums) and Matt Berninger (vocals).

For years, the band had received critical praise but it wasn’t until 2005’s Alligator that a wider audience finally discovered them. Alligator ended up in the higher echelons of scores of year-end critics’ lists and the band found themselves selling out large venues across Europe, the UK and the US. For instance, their next UK show is at London’s Astoria on May 22nd and this highlights how far the band have come in the last couple of years.

Written over the course of thirteen months at their homes in Brooklyn, NY, Boxer is the result of a lot of hard work and marks a new chapter in the band’s career. Mostly recorded at Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport, CT (some additional recording was done by the band and Brandon Reid in Brooklyn, NY and White Sulphur Springs, WV), it was then produced and mixed by the band and Peter Katis (Interpol, Spoon). Boxer hits as high as Alligator but is a different record – just another classic album from a band on top form.