Steeped in the darkest, deepest registers of the electric guitar and baritone vocals, the National cuts to nostalgia’s bone with dazzling precision in their latest album High Violet.

With lyrics harnessing the intimacy of a conversation overheard in the next room and Matt Berninger’s note-perfect voice, High Violet doesn’t mark newly broken ground for the National. Rather, it’s a haunted and lovely return to the acclaimed material on Boxer and Alligator. This time around, Berninger prefers an extremely polished record reminiscent of their earlier work to something radically different or experimental. The National has settled comfortably in the territory they know so well, and it’s an exquisite pleasure that rivals the 2007 classic Boxer in its sweeping, tragic scale.

Despite Berninger’s signature bleakness, he doesn’t hesitate to be ironic or cheeky like in “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks” whose title seems to be a summation of the band’s entire project. The epic yet dulcet melody of “England” shows the band’s ability to master the piano ballad as Berninger supplements his vocal track with chilling harmonies – and this is something he does throughout Violet. Unafraid of a shift in tone, moments such as these seamlessly explode into a kind of rock able choir music. Dually, Berninger and his cohorts brandish their ability to create a fast-tempo track with moody, if heavy-handed, lyricism in “Sorrow” (“Sorrow’s my body on the waves/Sorrow’s a girl in a cage”).

The quiet, almost tactile labor of High Violet is one of love – and of a band committed to their art rather than commercial success. Though the National is certainly a headlining act, there’s nothing overtly marketable about this album-but that’s because Berninger has refused to let fame corrupt his craft. Despite a decade of music under the National’s belt, blood still runs fecund in their veins.