Any band, well, those who have stayed in the game a long time, looking back at where music took them, will find that the path was never linear, never predictable, never smooth. And those creative evolutions and periods of hiatus, joyous reunions, and tragic personal losses that The National Game has endured are typical of any band forty years down the path.
And four decades down the line, it seems a perfect time to pause and reflect on that journey; to this end, they give us Still Life, a suite of songs rooted in the present, how can it not be, but whose scope takes in their own eclectic and exciting musical odyssey to date.
If those early influences, the jangle-pop that coats “The News” and the Costello-esque alt-pop poignancy of “So My Friend” are a neat link to those formative years and the musical backdrop that the band’s early story pays out against, this is nothing if not an album for the here-and-now.
“The Lighthouse” is a indie-folk ballad full of Seth Lakeman lyricism, one deftly wrought but delicate enough to let the light in, “Hard Road Home,” perhaps the spiritual heart of the album, blends alt-country groove with English charm and “Roll Away” is one of those songs that blends, well everything – rock energy, pop infection, folk finesse, indie cool, early U2 anthemics – a single if ever there was one.
Heading out into the unknown is something we should all do, and making memories and collecting stories is what life is all about. But they only really make sense if you also allow yourself time to dwell on them, organize your thoughts, look back on your life, and collate and contemplate. And when a band does that, it is through gently nostalgic, reflective yet totally of-the-moment albums such as this.
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