“Ever since you were a kid, you could cry on command” – if Matt Berninger is referring to himself, I’ll buy it. He has perfected crying in song form, so the most striking line in the opener “Inland Ocean” is (again) a lie: “I have no emotions. The question is whether the 54-year-old has served up his emotions often enough …
The answer: No! It’s still about various, um, crises – friends turning to dust, that sort of thing – and of course Berninger’s role is still that of a sufferer. But his persona never comes across as an over-sentimental acting performance desperately begging for an Oscar. He manages this balancing act time and again: as frontman of The National, with his half-forgotten side project EL VY or under his own name. Matt Berninger’s second solo album, Get Sunk, was created this time with producer Sean O’Brien – and is far better than The National’s last two albums.
Take the ultra-catchy highlight “Bonnet of Pins,” about a mysterious, suddenly younger-looking woman in a feathery jacket. Or, even better: “Nowhere Special”. Berninger’s vocal performance is great here – he can’t decide between singing and speaking. How can something so disorganized be so appealing? The arrangement builds and builds, it tries to squeeze the words into the beats and at some point it sinks; you don’t understand anything and yet you hang on every word. So called mumble indie.
