Mix Tape: The Sound of Trading Dreams for Cubicles

I was walking through the old part of town towards the train station when this song came on. The sun shone brighter, a bounce in my step. I sent it to my sister when I got home just in time to amp her up for her half marathon run.

2010 was the year of albums that had to grow on me. The National's High Violet was one. It took me a while to like these fellows, even before this album, but it helps to know what they're about. They're about rich texture, layers, building thick walls of sound, fuzzy and forceful soundscapes, long crescendos founded on an impeccable sense of rhythm. They are about taking your feelings of melancholy, regret, and wistfulness and giving them a definitive soundtrack. Some days it's not what I'm looking for, other days it's exactly what I'm looking for.

But I've often wondered why they are as wildly popular as they are. Not that they don't deserve the recognition they're getting, they mostly do, but to be selling out huge theaters and taking over the blogosphere and being praised by people outside the usual indie-hipster circle just generally surprises me. They are a long shot from Dave Matthews Band, after all.

I wonder if it's music for the working man. Take, for instance, the singer's everyday-joe personality, a deep-voiced and bearded commoner persona. Especially with the suit he's usually wearing, he's the guy you spent 9 to 5 around the water cooler with, and then after a few beers at happy hour he saunters onto stage. Something about this strikes a chord with grown up emo kids who have traded dreams of their band finally hitting big for the reality of being stuck in a dead-end cubicle. It's a sort of vicarious release for all of us.

So, thanks, The National, for giving us something to mope to during work and something to run to after work. We know life is tough for you guys too with the daily grind and all, the boss on your case, another year without a raise. But hang in there, we're all rooting for you.

This is The National, "Bloodbuzz Ohio," a song for walking or running or driving home from work on the first sunny day of vacation or just starting your long-awaited weekend.