As part of A Skin, A Night, a new documentary by acclaimed French filmmaker Vincent Moon, The National choose to gather together a collection of hard to find b-sides, covers, demos, and live tracks and call it The Virginia EP.

Coming off the releases of 2005’s Alligator and 2007’s Boxer (CoS’ pick for top album of 2007), it would be fair to assume that most fans of The National, including myself, expect anything the band touches to turn to gold. And while The Virginia EP remind us that this is not always the case, as even the most talented of bands are capable of producing a few clunkers, it is important to remember that this effort is indeed a collection of b-sides and demos, songs that didn’t make the original cut for any of the band’s prior studio albums.

In other words, don’t judge it too hard. Sure, “Blank State”, a song which starts off promising only to be overcome by the incomprehensible mumbling of frontman Matt Berninger, demonstrating why it was originally released as a U.K. b-side, offers a superb example of one of the band’s more lackluster works. However, it also illustrates how The National, just like any other band, are far from perfect, constantly perfecting their songs, rewriting and trashing, all in an effort to live up to that last acclaimed release.

And perhaps this is what The Virginia EP does best - provides a fascinating, inside look at the everlasting journey for musical perfection. From the scaled down, chorus-less demo of “Slow Show” to the raw “Forever After Days” and “Rest of Years”, the EP evokes revealing examples of lyrical imperfection and musical blemishes, leaving an end result that promotes a greater understanding and appreciation for the true talents of these five Brooklyn-based indie rockers.

Live versions of fan favorite’s “Fake Empire” and “About Today” are other highlights, which fittingly cap off the album. The energy and musicality found on “Fake Empire” shows the band at their best and even help justify, as hard as it is to do on a live album, just how good The National are away from the studio. The epic ending in “About Today” serves as The Virginia EP’s pinnacle, the high-point in quality, the end product of perfection, resulting from the the years of the b-sides and demos, rewrites and do overs.

Like any other compilation of leftover material, The Virginia EP isn’t something that is going to blow you away, even worth mentioning in the same sentence as the band’s actual albums. But that’s because it isn’t designed for that, intentionally full of the flaws and rawness that any band must overcome to create that great album, that Alligator, that Boxer.

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Categories: Album Reviews, News
Tags: The National