There's something about the National's music that makes you think, gives you pause or breaks you down, without really knowing why.
Maybe it's lead singer Matt Berninger's melancholy baritone, or the lyrics that depict a very modern sense of relationships and social commentary.
Whatever it is, the Ohio-born and Brooklyn-based indie rock band has steadily, carefully risen to enjoy a quiet kind of fame over the past 10 years. It helps they've opened for such mega-bands as Georgia's own R.E.M. They made a splash with their third album, "Alligator," in 2005, but set off bigger waves with "Boxer" in 2007, a must-have album for many music lovers.
The National comes to the Fox Theatre Oct. 5 to promote its latest, much anticipated album, "High Violet," which features such hits as "Bloodbuzz Ohio" and "Lemonworld."
We chatted with Berninger, who is joined in the band by two pairs of brothers -- Aaron and Bryce Dessner, and Scott and Bryan Devendorf -- who write the melodies that Berninger adorns with words.
Q. The National is known for its lyrics, which are highly detailed, yet seemingly random. For example, in "Slow Show" from "Boxer," you sing: "You could drive a car through my head in five minutes from one side of it to the other." How do you approach writing?
A. The fact that I can't play guitar or anything means that I obsess over the lyrics, and it takes me a while to figure out a right balance of sincerity, humor, provocation and also just the simple moments. The lyrics are my job, so I have got to go deep into it.
They aren’t riddles. They aren’t tricks. They’re not referencing any secret thing. It just creates a sense of meaning, you know? I feel like I know what that means on an emotional level, though on a literal level it makes no sense.
Q. Perhaps it’s your deep baritone voice, or maybe the lyrics themselves, but on its face the National can seem solemn. Should we try to chart your or your bandmates’ personal lives through song?
A. I’m a happy person in general. But a lot of the songs talk about sadness and talk about the darkness and the weird and ugly sides of personal relationships and fears, but they don’t represent, really, a portrait of me. It’s just fun stuff I love to dig into. It’s like somebody who writes romance novels might not lead the most romantic life. I write a lot about ugly, dark and demented sad stuff, but it's not how my life is.
The songs need to be emotionally important. For example, “Afraid of Everyone” is definitely a feeling of what [it's] like to try to absorb and filter all the insane amounts of misinformation we are given culturally and politically and socially ... and try to figure out where we’re going. That stuff is real. That stuff I obsess over.
Q. You mention political propaganda, but wasn’t the National’s “Fake Empire” used politically in President Barack Obama’s campaign?
A. Yes. That song was very much about trying to imagine a completely fantasy version of the world, because the real world was too ugly ... all the bluebirds and lemonade and getting drunk, that was an escape from thinking about [being] political, so it was interesting it was later used in an extremely political way. But then the music for that song is very hopeful and dramatic and uplifting, so I thought that worked very well for Obama’s film they used it in. The lyrics would’ve sounded funny in a political campaign. But we were all happy, frankly, to be used that way. I think I’ll always be humbled and honored by that. But for the most part, I try hard not to put in too many political perspectives. I don’t want the band to be a soapbox band by any means.
Q. It’s hard for an indie rock band to make it big without die-hard fans accusing them of selling out. What is your idea of fame, and what’s the plan with your career and its scale?
A. As far as reaching more fans, yeah, we want to, we want to play the bigger places. But those shows do change, and we’re trying to figure out how to grow gracefully. We opened for R.E.M. and they were playing 30,000 to 50,000 seats, but they were putting on these intimate, powerful shows. It didn’t feel distant, although they’ll never be like those sweaty club shows, either.
I’ll be honest, I have a kid now and we’re starting families. We want to be able to pay our bills. What defines a “National” show? We’re trying to figure that out, and make it great.
Concert preview
The National. 8 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 5. $38.10-$46. The Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St., Atlanta. 866-448-7849, www.ticketmaster.com .
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