VINYL FORMAT. These five Cincinnati friends recorded two albums for Brassland before signing to Beggars Banquet. Their last effort, Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers, was touted as one of the year's best by Rolling Stone and other magazines. On Alligator, Matt Berninger's potent baritone still intones about matters fraught, funny, and sad; about record collections, missing persons, and medium-sized American hearts. "Startling and subtly affecting, The National creeps in like the killer in a bleak gothic novel. Strings tremble, hearts break, and each smoldering song brings a harrowing tale of new pities"--Magnet.