Trouble Will Find Me Turns 10

The day the National released Trouble Will Find Me was one of the hottest days I’ve ever experienced in New York City. At least, that’s how I remember it, but I was also wearing a jacket and a tie and a gown. Nobody would’ve made the case it was a day for layering, but it happened to be my college graduation. Given how fundamental the band had been to my experience of moving to and living in New York during my college years, the cosmic overlap of their latest album arriving on such a momentous day was pre-ordained. But they injected just a bit more frantic energy into the thick air of that day: I spent most of the afternoon trying to muster focus or emotion over a graduation I didn’t particularly care to attend, while receiving texts with updates of the National’s own ceremony, a blitzkrieg of surprise shows spread across New York.