Following his intimate, ruminative solo debut by five years, the bittersweet
Get Sunk finds the voice of
the National,
Matt Berninger, in a slightly brighter, more appreciative -- or at least curious -- state of mind. It follows a move with his wife and daughter to Connecticut in 2023, after ten years in Los Angeles. Once there, he began spending more time outdoors and indulging in interests such as painting, reading, and listening to music, while also reflecting on his childhood and all the people one meets in life who help shape who we become. This change of pace and thoughtful mix of loss, conflict, and gratitude are reflected on the warmer
Get Sunk, whose title is a reference to how everything moves slower underwater and to reflection itself. More than one song here refers to Indiana, where the Cincinnati, Ohio native spent summers with his cousins on his aunt and uncle's farm. Like
Serpentine Prison,
Get Sunk is intimate yet collaborative; it was recorded with Grammy-winning producer/engineer
Sean O'Brien and musicians including
the National sideman
Kyle Resnick, singer/songwriter
Harrison Whitford, and members of
the Walkmen, among many others.
Hand Habits'
Meg Duffy is featured on the spare and swaying, mostly acoustic "Breaking into Acting," a sympathetic character study in manipulation with lyrics like "Ever since you were a kid, you could cry on demand" and "Your mouth is always full of blood packets." The album's other feature spot is by
Ronboy's
Julia Laws on "Silver Jeep," a track that includes recordings of the ocean and children at play. Its skittery drums, horns, and gentle piano are a little livelier and more theatrical, but the song is immersed in the wistful longing of internal thoughts ("I only want you to chase me/I only want you to rattle my bones and run after me 'til you see my lights are gone"). Among the more uptempo, full-band tracks included are "No Love" ("Everything we ever wanted/But no love") and "Bonnet of Pins," a fusion of grief and amusement.
Berninger's incisive turns of phrase and refusal to isolate the bitter and sweet are the governing forces throughout the record, even on songs like the jaunty "Junk," a defeated love song that imagines flowers sprouting through his own grave in Indiana. To put a point on this juxtaposition, look no further than "Nowhere Special," a stream-of-conscious spoken track underscored by breezy, trip-hop-adjacent beats and featuring lines like "I'll slur my silly words into my mind grinder microphone." He finally looks outward and to the present on the
Neil Young-evoking closer, "Times of Difficulty." A song that also features a bright organ solo and backing chorus, it leaves listeners with questions like "If we're not dying, then what are we?" and "How can we tell in times like these?" ~ Marcy Donelson
