Cherry Tree (2004)

Mini-album (7 tracks, ongeveer een half uur lang), verschenen tussen het 2de en 3de album in. "The National are intimidated by female beauty, spellbound and damaged by it. They fear it somehow criticises or diminishes them. It's hurt them; they don't trust it. They sing of leaving it well alone, for sanity's sake, but can't practise what they preach. This is the weak and helpless art of male self-pity at its finest. The usual names crop up in comparisons: Cohen, Eitzel, Tindersticks, Dulli. But if The National were copyists, this wouldn't work, it'd be parody. It's not parody. It's heinously bitter and twisted, and hurting bad, and you believe it. You may sometimes hear in them shades of Interpol, The Sound, or early U2. Often, though, they're gentler, letting Berninger's defeated voice and outstanding lyrics do the job. As with all great poetic works of despair and self-loathing, there's fine-gauge humour here." (Chris Roberts, Uncut)