Springsteen-endorsed NYC Outfit The National To Make Local Stop on Boxer Tour, this Wednesday at Pearl Street

When I first heard that Bruce Springsteen was a fan of The National, I have to admit being a bit puzzled by the connection, but after thinking it over some, it began to make more sense. Sure, Springsteen treads the populist path laid out by Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, and The National pay homage to the likes of Joy Division, Nick Cave, Sonic Youth, and Leonard Cohen. Yet, what unites these two is their flair for the dramatic and their transformation of mundane reality into sublime art, achieved by bravely and unflinchingly exploring the "darkness on the edge of town," the flipside of the American Dream.

On their amazing new record Boxer, The National, like Springsteen, brilliantly and poetically capture those private moments when the innocence and effortlessness of youth have dried up, leaving us adrift in a drab, material existence with fading hopes, gnawing dissatisfaction, and a tinge of loneliness. These are meditative songs, internal monologues that keep us company as we wander into the wee hours of the neon-lit night, trying to make sense of what it is to be human in modern-day America. The album's characters may be haunted by the past and frightened by what is yet to come, and yet there is also a distant memory of better times that keeps them afloat. Admist the fragmented scenes of disillusion, missed connections, and sleepless nights, a comforting resilience shines through, a reason to believe in the possibility of something better emerging.

2007 has been a triumphant year for The National, marked by an astonishing run of five consecutive nights of sell-outs at New York's Bowery Ballroom, their national television debut on David Letterman, and the release of what many are calling the album of the year. Come see for yourself what all the fuss is about, Wednesday, October 10th, when The National perform at Pearl Street Ballroom. Doveman, who along with Sufjan Stevens contributed music to Boxer, opens the show.

--Brendan Leith

Buy National Tickets HERE.

See The National cover Springsteen's "Mansion on the Hill" at a 2006 Tribute to Nebraska

The National make their network television premiere with this performance of "Fake Empire"

Watch The National's "Mistaken For Strangers" Video from 2007's Boxer