“You should know me better than that.” Is there a knowing wink behind Matt Berninger’s mantra at the start of Trouble Will Find Me? The National’s identity is so entrenched at this point that we know exactly what to expect from Brooklyn’s foremost grown-ass indie rockers. “There’s a science to walking through windows without you,” and to writing National songs. But science has improved our lives immeasurably, and so does this band’s well-worn formula. Their music is the ultimate drinking buddy for life’s most melancholic moments, those times when you need a steady shoulder and not a ripped-up foundation. Not that Trouble Will Find Me is all morbid navel-gazing — “Sea Of Love”‘s relentless churn fulfills the “Mr. November” memorial rock climax quota. And, hey, if you insist on something out of the ordinary, how about Berninger calling himself “a white girl in a crowd of white girls in the park”? –Chris [LISTEN]