The National: Boxer : A

Over the course of four albums, including 2005's excellent sleeper success, Alligator, The National have shown a rare ability get better with every release. And their latest project, Boxer, is so good that, if there's any justice, it should finally launch them into indie rock's A-list. Could it go mainstream? It's probably too moody -- but, hey, who knows what'll happen if one of the songs gets on "Grey's Anatomy." \nIf you're new to The National, here's what you should expect:\nWith his languid baritone, Matt Berenger sounds like the world's weariest frontman (excepting, possibly, Tom Waits), and his impressionistic lyrics suggesting failure, heartbreak, paranoia, resignation and societal decline seem like a ready-made soundtrack for an Irish wake at the end of the world. Add to this a loping piano refrain, then a single note plucked repeatedly on guitar, then drums and bassoon, build in tempo and volume, then kick everything into a clockwork shuffle and fire up a triumphant volley of brass and guitars -- and that's "Fake Empire," the album's very first track. Then, as incredible as "Empire" is, it's outdone by "Mistaken For Strangers," with its powerful drums, chilly lead guitar, heavy bass and catchy chorus: "You get mistaken for strangers by your own friends / when you pass them at night under the silvery, silvery Citibank lights / arm in arm in arm, and eyes and eyes glazing under."\n"Strangers" might be Boxer's most immediate song, but not a weak track follows. Other highlights include the office drone lament, "Squalor Victoria," and the bittersweet, but deeply romantic, "Slow Show" (chorus: "You know I dreamed about you / for 29 years before I saw you"). \nSlow and powerful, with fire seething between the cracks in its surface, The National's Boxer rolls past the ears like lava, although it is a lot easier to sing along to.