Album Review: The National - Sleep Well Beast

Their music is almost immediately identifiable: The churn and meshing the Dessner and Devendorf brothers' instrumental textures then overlaid with Matt Berninger's ruminations on the human condition.

But look closer, and Sleep Well Beast further develops the trademark style, as The National becomes more varietal in its underlying noises since finding their 'groove' on 2005's Alligator.

However, few bands can match the conjuring of relationship regret and/or self-flagellation as they do on Carin At The Liquor Store, or the absolute distillation of the form in Guilty Party. Piano ripples from stark to stately leave Berninger alone in the kitchen under a bare bulb drinking the last of the good red, using a peanut butter jar as a glass.

Elsewhere, it can be surprisingly bright - even urgent (in their studied way) - perhaps a more subtle take on the more sardonic moods of the singer's EL VY side-project. Turtleneck starts with an almost martial drum cacophony before it settles, while there's an almost dancey electronic clatter to I'll Still Destroy You's opening odd subway rush.

Some will still use this album as background music for the dinner party with their hip(per) friends, but immersing yourself in it reveals its real emotional depths.