This is my favourite band of the moment and one of my most listened to CD's! The National are a brilliant Indie/Rock/Alternative band and their music is truly addictive and I guarantee after this album you will be hooked!

The first thing you will notice about this band is the singers voice. His voice is unusually deep, almost bass. It is warm and gravelly and kind of dream like in its tones. His voice carries you through the album in a comforting and melancholy way. For me, this album had a similar impact to the first time I heard Portishead's Dummy album. Although they are not similar at all, it had the same kind of effect of being something new, something only I had descovered and I feel that when music feels as though it is secretly and truly yours then it is something you will treasure for a long time.

As mentioned above the album is somewhat melancholy but is great as background music and by this I dont mean something you can ignore but something that can accompany your thoughts and encourage them. I have this album on my head phones when I am writing creatively and I find that it gives me that right kind of feeling. I know this album wont be to everyones taste but if you like bands like Interpol, The Black Keys, Radiohead, Coldplay etc then this is well worth a listen. Loaded with unfogettable lines like 'I leaned on the wall and the wall leaned away' and other social observatory comments on today's society. The lyrics really are as thought provoking, cool and pretty as the music sounds.

This album has 12 songs and they are listed as follows:
1.Fake Empire
2.Mistaken For Strangers
3.Brainy
4.Squalor Victoria
5.Green Gloves
6.Slow Show = (My favourite)
7.Apartment Story
8.Start A War
9.Guest Room
10.Racing Like A Pro
11.Ada12.Gospel

It is 43.01 minutes of running time and was produced by Peter Katis of The National.

In my opinion the best thing about this band is that they are roughly around my age and it reflects in their music in a very sophisticated and in depth way, I find this hard to describe but I think you will understand when you listen to them!