Friday 03.12.2010 | 12:23 PM EST

Secret Meeting Pt.1:
The National Road Test High Violet

Poised to release their followup to Boxer, The National gathered a few hundred friends, family and music press last night for the first of an intimate two-night stint at Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn, where they took the entirety of High Violet for a loose, raucous spin around the block. The shows were a tightly guarded secret unthwarted by the usual leaks and breaches. The Circle of Trust remains.

The boys seemed glad to be out of the confines of the studio, where they have spent the last 10 months crafting what is shaping up to be yet another leap forward in songwriting and, particularly, studio production. Matt was loose and jovial, thanking the band, the audience and his brand-new microphone stand, of which he seemed quite taken by. He joked his way through as he tripped over the opening lyric to “Start A War,” the band determined to avoid a false start. Scott bobble-danced his way through the bass parts as drummer Bryan shredded the set with furious sixteenths. The Brothers Dessner banged, clawed and thrashed the guitars to produce High Violet’s growling new textures, while guest musicians Conrad Doucette (Takka Takka, drums + percussion) and Thomas Bartlett (Doveman, piano) joined the core group to fill out the densely-layered new tracks. The now-familiar horn section of Kyle Resnick and Ben Lanz lent the usual brassy class to the high-energy performance.

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Stay tuned for more following tonight’s repeat performance.
In the meantime, you can get a small taste of HV on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon where TN performed Terrible Love this past Wednesday: