| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Nov | Jan » | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
I’ve been listening to and enjoying The National’s Alligator a bunch recently. But no matter how much I listen to it, I think that perhaps the one shortcoming of the album is the flow. I feel like there are many points where songs come out of nowhere, and the transitions are really lacking. On their own, the songs are fantastic, but I just don’t think the presentation is giving them their fair shake. The sequence bothers me especially with “Karen” placed so early on the album, and then the transition from “Lit Up” to “Looking for Astronauts.” I suspect that the underlying structure that orders the songs is the way in which the lyrics fit within an overall theme of a broken relationship between lead singer Matt Barrick and an ex-girlfriend (Karen?).