(Beggars Banquet Records)

Quality material from the National but did we need it?

Releasing an exceptional LP such as 2007’s Boxer is as good a reason as any to release a follow-up appendix, in this case called The Virginia EP. Though hardly an EP with twelve tracks, it’s comprised of an assortment of covers, demos and live tracks, most of which have been previously released as b-sides. It also comes packaged with a documentary on the band called A Skin, A Night by Vincent Moon, which while a little superfluous will still be quite interesting to fans of the band, documenting the making of the Boxer record interspersed with some live footage. Opening track You’ve Done It Again, Virginia is entrenched in the Boxer aesthetic and features Sufjan Stevens on piano, with the same sort of pretty flourishes that he offered in Boxer’s Ada. A demo of Slow Show illustrates a more stripped back imagining that works well in its own way, though in its earlier stages the song is without the gorgeous piano outro of its Boxer equivalent. Live versions of Fake Empire and About Today are rousing but any subtle differences to the studio version are obscured in the mix and so they feel a little pointless. A live cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Mansion On The Hill is particularly well executed, Padma Newsome’s strings stand out and Berninger’s voice suits perfectly. If you’re a fan of the band, snap this up. If you’re a little more tentative then I recommend you proceed directly to 2005’s Alligator before you visit this very enjoyable but not necessarily vital release.

MICHAEL PINCOTT

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