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Length
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Most of the National's songs take linear paths, and "Don't Swallow The Cap" is so head-down and arrow-straight it qualifies as Krautrock. In this instance, it's inversely proportional to Matt Berninger's lyrics, which are often loopy and complex and even more averse to a straight reading than usual here. He lays out the conflict in fairly legible terms– "I have only two emotions/ Careful fear and dead devotion/ I can't get the balance right"– and the results are an immeasurable number of unstable, incomprehensible feelings.
At best, Beringer can only allay his confusion by managing a grim joke about canonical artists whose albums convey timeless truths: "if you want to see me cry/play Let It Be or Nevermind." Which becomes another joke on top of itself– since when did those guys ever have their shit together? So for all its multitudes, "Don't Swallow The Cap" comforts by commiserating right along if you're not sure what you're feeling, but you know it's not quite right. In other words, it's a National song.
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