*Sleep Well Beast* is the seventh album by *The National*, and represents the latest step in the progression of their sound. Early teasers suggested that this would be the most drastic change taken by the band, but I feel like Sleep Well Beast is simultaneously a new direction and a return to form.

Before their previous album, Trouble Will Find Me, their sound had been getting progressively mellower, and only a trace of the occasional aggression seen on earlier albums was to be found. SWB seems to continue this more subdued mood at first, with the opener Nobody Else Will Be There being just as quiet as the majority of TWFM, but with hints at that promised electronic-influenced directions. And for the majority of the album, they remain nothing more than hints: electronics appear mostly in the backdrop for the first half. Songs like Day I Die and The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness call back to High Violet, being more energetic and rockier than anything on TWFM. This is also highlighted by the production: gone is the murky sound of their previous release and replaced by a cleaner approach, reminiscent of their albums up to and including Boxer. (This might be related to Peter Katis, who was a producer on all their releases except TWFM, returning to co-produce the album with the band.)

Calling back to their even earlier works, Turtleneck features heavier guitars and screaming from vocalist Matt Berninger, something he hasn’t done on a studio release since their second album, Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers. Turtleneck does stick out a bit, especially since it was placed after perhaps the mellowest song, Born to Beg, which seems like a direct continuation of their sound on TWFM but with the electronic elements that are so common throughout this album. And as common as they have been in the first half, they take center stage in the second half of the album. Both Empire Line and I’ll Still Destroy You have prominent loop-based percussion and barely feature guitars. I have to give I’ll Still Destroy You a bit more time here – it is my personal favourite of the album, mostly because I think it’s the vocal highlight of the album, both melodically and lyrically. At times on the album Matt’s voice feels somewhat worn-out, but I’m never totally certain if that was an intentional choice because of how well it fits the lyrical themes. Speaking of the lyrics – in my opinion this album represents a significant improvement over TWFM. The themes aren’t too different, with personal stories about Matt’s relationship with his wife and, to a significant degree, his role as a father dominate the album (though the sample in Walk It Back is also the most political they’ve been since Boxer’s Fake Empire), but the lines overall cheesy much less often than some of the ones on TWFM (and El Vy, Matt’s most recent project.) I’d quote, but I think that compared to their previous albums, the lyrics have fewer quotable lines but work just as well if not better as whole pieces – The System, I’ll Still Destroy You, and especially the title track could even be career highlights. The title track, Sleep Well Beast, stands out in other ways too. It’s the farthest they’ve taken the electronic direction they’ve hinted at the entire album, featuring barely any rock instrumentation and mostly abandoning their usual song structures. It’s also, I believe, the first time two songs based on the same initial idea made it onto one record – though they diverge significantly, the loop it and Guilty Party are based on is recognizable as the same one.

I wasn’t planning on going through each song one by one, both because I think this album works best as a whole, and because I don’t believe that’s the most interesting way of looking at music. I think it shows Sleep Well Beast’s strength that I nonetheless ended up having to bring up a majority of them, and I don’t think the ones I didn’t mention specifically were any worse. The National are known to be a very consistent band and I am happy that even stepping a bit outside their comfort zone didn’t hurt the quality. I’m not quite sure if it’s my absolute favourite album of 2017, but I certainly consider it to be one of the strongest releases.