The National

The National

Album: “I Am Easy to Find”

Grade: A

The new album from The National starts off as you might expect: There’s the traditional melancholy surrounded by complex, layered instruments. But just past the two-minute mark on the first track something unusual happens. A woman’s voice simply takes over.

Gail Ann Dorsey, known for playing in David Bowie’s band, steps up as singer Matt Berninger fades, and the two sing in harmony until the abrupt end of “You Had Your Soul With You.”

It’s no quirk: Women’s voices are all over “I Am Easy to Find,” a more dense, challenging and complex album than any other National output. This isn’t a collection of alt-rock songs. This is high art.

The album is produced by filmmaker Mike Mills, who directed “20th Century Women,” and it’s accompanied by a 26-minute film by Mills starring Alicia Vikander, who also graces the album cover. The album and film, which uses six tunes, are described as “playfully hostile siblings.”

The film charts the life of a woman from baby to death and, fittingly, The National invite female singers – Dorsey, Mina Tindle, Lisa Hannigan, Sharon Van Etten, Kate Stables and Eve Owen – to join on the 16-track set.

Their voices – plus the addition of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus on several tracks – elevate material that’s already elevated to a baroque level. Fans of The National will gleefully scale their chilly, arty new heights; newcomers may get turned off quick. “I Am Easy to Find” is not to be embraced; it is to be admired.

Lyrically, there is Berninger’s old sad-sack approach – “I’m just so tired of thinking about everything,” he sings on “Quiet Light.”

But there’s also the strange and wonderful “Not In Kansas,” a memory song that name-checks Annette Bening, R.E.M., Neil Armstrong and his Aunt Angela. There are few musicians out there with his gift for words: “Smidges of bad ecstasy/Must have left it in my pocket/With my Christianity and my rocket.”

Other highlights include the brilliant, swelling “Rylan”; the airy “Oblivions,” with strings and military drumming; and the achingly beautiful “Light Years,” built around a simple piano riff.

In other places The National get too pretentious for their own good, like on the tedious “Dust Swirls in Strange Light.” But there’s no denying the band’s astonishing care and thoughtfulness; it’s easy to find.

–Mark Kennedy, Associated Press

The Head and the Heart

Album: “Living Mirage”

Grade: C

On the heels of bands like the Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons, the Head and the Heart arrived into the folk-rock scene at just the right time. Their self-titled debut – self-released in 2009 and later released by record label Sub Pop in 2011 – resonated with fans who delighted in their organic sound. From the tight harmonies to sparse production, the album was vulnerable and pure.

Fast-forward 10 years and the Head and the Heart have headed down a different path entirely. Fans looking for the folksy rock they fell in love with will be disappointed by the clean, heavily produced fourth record, “Living Mirage.”

The album contains only a glimmer of the magic held within the Head and the Heart’s first two albums. The band’s third release, “Signs of Light,” hinted at the group’s transition toward pop, but it isn’t until the first two songs of “Living Mirage” that this identity shift is fully realized.

Those tracks – “See You Through My Eyes” and “Missed Connection” – are arguably the album’s weakest. Gone are the idiosyncrasies that colored the group’s early work.

The rough edges of Jonathan Russell and Charity Rose Thielen’s voices have been polished to perfection, and with them, the texture and charm eradicated.

The Head and the Heart are the strongest with songs like “Glory of Music,” where the production is stripped back and the raw vocals shine through.

Simply put, the heart is gone from the Head and the Heart.

–Ragan Clark, Associated Press