The Top 30 Albums Of 2019 (So Far): The National – 'I Am Easy To Find'

"This is an album that speaks volumes as a whole. It is a singular apocalypse." – Lauren Baxter 

Far from being Hard To Find – see 2013’s Trouble Will Find Me – The National have been uncovered, easily, thanks to the injection of a collaborative element on their eighth studio album, courtesy of filmmaker Mike Mills, frontman Matt Berninger’s partner Carin Besser as co-lyricist, and a raft of female featured vocalists, including Gail Ann Dowsey and Sharon Van Etten. 

The album and Mills’ 24-minute short film, starring Alicia Vikander, bleed into each other, telling the story of a woman growing up, experiencing love, loss, and the perils of ageing. It’s beautiful and profoundly moving.