This one’s probably a little redundant, too, but there’s simply no way I can shy away from posting a new National track.
The band’s a personal favorite and they’ve been on something of a hot streak this year. They released two excellent songs earlier this summer/spring and have followed those up with another excellent track, this time a cover of The Philistines Jr. track “Twenty Miles to NH Part 2.” It’s a part of an upcoming compilation album chock-full of Philistines Jr. songs called If a Lot of Bands Play in the Woods…
The song serves the band well, sounding like like it’d fit well on the 7″ containing the two songs they released earlier this year. Opening with a light piano line and gradually adding layers of acoustic guitar, synth, bells and brass in a familiar. And of course, Bryan Devendorf’s drum flourishes are a highlight here too. Berninger’s vocal delivery here is curiously a little on the lighter side (if that can be imagined) though his appearance is relatively brief, consisting of just a single verse and some repeated hey hey hey‘s and whoa whoa whoa‘s. It’s a great, simple track that hopefully is a sign of more to come.
[mp3] The National – Twenty Miles to N.H. Part 2 (The Philistines Jr. Cover)
(via We All Want Some to Shout For, among others)