It’s not often nowadays that an American band causes genuine excitement on the British indie scene. There will always be exceptions, of course – The Killers, We Are Scientists, Interpol – but there’s usually enough talent on these shores to keep us from looking too far afield for our pleasures. The National might soon join that list, though, for ‘Mistaken For Strangers’ is a doom-laden, pop-driven masterpiece, more Joy Division than Tom Smith’s Editors, and yet somehow still aching with a curiously muttered beauty. It’ll come as no surprise to discover that this single, taken from forthcoming album Boxer, was mixed by Interpol producer Peter Katis, or that it’s being released by the always-exciting Beggars Banquet label. Forget the Day-Glo tones of British indie for a while, and drown in some vintage misery.
