the national is one of those bands that may take some time to listen to. it comes in slow doses, categories of so-called emotion seeking, trying to decipher something that triggers deep inside, that must be found somewhere else visually in the music. after a few sessions, the feeling develops into an ongoing story, as if you’re sitting on a train with a soundtrack set to the cast of a melancholy city and the rest-assured personality that carefully follows along.

dj bernard lenoir has organized the black sessions on france radio inter for many years. referred to as the french john peel, lenoir discovered many amazing underground english and french artists, influencing their musical career and success.

back in 2003, the national’s sophmore album “sad songs for dirty lovers” became lenoir’s favorite album of the year and he invited the cincinatti band several times to play his acclaimed live sessions.

black session // 11.17.03
a collection of material from the national’s self-titled debut, cherry tree ep and the album sad songs for dirty lovers.

son
thirsty
slipping husband
all the wine
cold girl fever
murder me rachael
90-mile water wall
lit up
pretty forever
cherry tree
available
about today

.download the zip file.

black session // 04.29.05
a collection of material from the national’s cherry tree ep and their third album alligator.

all the wine
secret meeting
driver surprise me
lit up
cherry tree
baby, we’ll be fine
geese
city middle
looking for astronauts
mr november
daughters of the soho riots
abel
wasp nest

.download the zip file.

“Pop Art has always been my favorite style. I like how it’s simplistic in a sense but it’s also a way to capture split-second emotions. It’s blatant and there aren’t too many undertones. I also like the feeling of looking through a window of a store or gallery or standing twenty feet away from a painting and being able to see every detail. I think once I started painting all the time, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. I just wanted to be a painter.”

artwork by lucas vidana

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This entry was posted by musicisart on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 9:18 pm and is filed under black sessions, mia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.