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9.0
135218
9.0 |
Clash
Mourning an uncertain period in the band and liberating themselves from the inhibitions that once held them back, The National are closer than ever, the type of closeness that allows individual growth, and this organic coming together is reflected in the collection of songs on ‘Laugh Track’
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9.0
135260
9.0 |
Paste Magazine
On Laugh Track, The National remain as bold as they’ve ever been—plugging the sounds of a 20-year catalog into a 12-chapter show and calling upon some friends to fill out the party
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8.0
135265
8.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Although a somewhat flawed album, there’s no denying that the band seem to have returned to the kind of nocturnal, elemental rock that made them famous in the first place
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8.0
135491
8.0 |
musicOMH
Their second album of 2023 contains enough subtle differences to distinguish it from its predecessor
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8.0
135967
8.0 |
Northern Transmissions
Their polished and precise brand of contemporary new wave is some of the best out there and if you are a fan of the genre, stuck in the dusty confines of your old record collection, there will be so much here for you to never feel let down again
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8.0
135227
8.0 |
The Irish Times
Will be thrill for fans whose tastes veer towards fervid dynamics of old
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8.0
135255
8.0 |
The Independent
Matt Berninger ropes in old friends Bon Iver and Phoebe Bridgers for bullish surprise album
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8.0
135256
8.0 |
Evening Standard
The most audible difference throughout is that Bryan Devendorf, who used electronic drum pads on …Frankenstein, is back behind a traditional kit here. His busy intricacy is interesting on every song, even as the ballads keep coming
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8.0
135234
8.0 |
NME
The band follow up April’s ‘First Two Pages of Frankenstein’ with a surprise companion record that’s louder, more immediate and rawer than its predecessor
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8.0
135244
8.0 |
The Guardian
The existential conundrums of a cast of sad-sack characters – including a shattering Phoebe Bridgers collaboration – build up in dread and anxiety toward an intense, teeth-baring pay off
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8.0
135250
8.0 |
Exclaim
It re-establishes them as a group of long-time collaborators in line with one another, none of them standing out from the others
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7.0
135258
7.0 |
All Music
The National remains fascinated by the consoling power of stillness, operating at a low hum that allows space for Matt Berninger to ruminate as the band searches for variations of texture within cycling chords
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6.9
135252
6.9 |
Beats Per Minute
What was seminal tilts toward repetitiveness. The radical becomes cliché. The signature devolves into the formulaic. Hopefully, going forward, The National can plumb fresh territory, propelled by urgency and an ache to reinvent themselves
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6.9
135358
6.9 |
Spectrum Culture
Berninger is fair to want songs that won’t rend him asunder to sing night after night, but is it wrong to hope for something more engaging than just “beautiful?”
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6.8
135229
6.8 |
Pitchfork
The National’s second album of 2023 extends its predecessor’s subdued mood and reclusive purview
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5.4
135261
5.4 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
What once resonated as a stirring reaction to the most oppressive subtleties of white-collar gloom and marital anxieties now just scans like a token complement to your sertraline prescription; no-one likes watching a legacy turn into a commodity
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