The National
Boxer The National Numbered Audiophile MoFi edition

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Also available as:

CD (2007) NZ$ 21

Standard edition

(2007) NZ$ 37.50

Boxer

The National

Numbered Audiophile MoFi edition

"Boxer" is the album that transformed The National from a respected indie band into one of the 21st century's most significant bands. Filled with literary storytelling, magnificent arrangements, and an enigmatic beauty, the album addresses themes such as family life, coming of age, and escapism with equal parts uncompromising honesty and sharp wit. Sublime, nuanced, and intimate, Boxer is more relevant today than ever, even compared to when it was released in 2007. For the Cincinnati-born, New York-based quintet, there's no better place to start than Boxer itself. The band's fourth studio album, released on Beggars Banquet Records, debuted at No. 68 on the US Billboard 200. In Paste's annual list, the album was named the best release of the year in 2007. "Mistaken For Strangers" was placed at No. 92 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 best songs of 2007, while Pitchfork ranked the album at No. 17 on its annual list. Boxer also took first place on WOXY.com's "97 Best of 2007" and furthermore made its way onto several lists of the decade's best albums from, among others, Pitchfork, Aquarium Drunkard, Paste, and The Guardian.

With two sets of brothers, each with their perfectionist tendencies and personal preferences, as well as Matt Berninger's slow songwriting process for the lyrics, Boxer was created through both conflicts and frustrations. The fact that the recordings were simultaneously documented for the film A Skin, A Night hardly made the process easier. In retrospect, however, it perhaps contributed to the result anyway. Boxer is a cohesive, secure, and self-assured work from a band whose personal and professional relationships are clearly reflected in the music. This is heard in Aaron and Bryce Dessner's atmospheric guitar passages and elegant piano lines, in Scott and Bryan Devendorf's changing time signatures, jazzy inspirations, and bubbling rhythms, as well as in Matt Berninger's restrained vocals, repeating phrases, and characteristic dark baritone. Together, they make the album's impressionistic narratives of fear, doubt, self-loathing, compromises, facades, and role-playing even more present. The orchestral arrangements as well as brass and string details, performed by an ensemble including Padma Newsome (violin, viola, organ), Sufjan Stevens (piano), and Thomas Bartlett (keyboards, accordion), add further depth. The subtly used fanfares interact with Berninger's vocals, the atmospheric melodies, and the open soundscapes, conveying hesitation, reluctance, melancholy, disillusionment, and self-satisfaction. The songs function as protective cocoons, acoustic spaces, and inner dialogues that help navigate through unsatisfying jobs, social pressure, and uncertain relationships. Amidst the subdued soundscapes that retain their beauty even when they turn dark, Boxer strikes a rare balance between cautious optimism, hopeless romance, and sharp self-insight. Pure balm for the soul.

MFSL now presents Boxer for the first time in audiophile reference quality. Mastered from the original master tapes at MoFi Studio in California and pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, this numbered 2LP on 180g vinyl at 45 RPM is released in a strictly limited edition of 3,000 copies. The edition comes in an exclusive gatefold cover from Stoughton Printing and offers the best sound quality the album has ever had on vinyl. The collector's edition reproduces the iconic cover and sets new standards for depth, transparency, and dynamics. No previous edition has reproduced the album's chamber-music-like textures, rhythms, brass-like accents, and minimalist structures with the same presence, depth, and balance. The pitch-black background almost places The National directly in the listening room, recreating the lightness and atmosphere for which the band is known from its live performances.

Media	Music VINYL LP (Vinyl)
Number of records	2
To be released	October 9, 2026
EAN/UPC	0821797264419
Label	MOBILE FIDELITY SOUND LAB MFSL2644
Genre	Indie Indie Rock
Dimensions	320 × 325 × 7 mm · 450 g

Track list

1. LP
1. Fake Empire
2. Mistaken for Strangers
3. Brainy
4. Squalor Victoria
5. Green Gloves
6. Slow Show
2. LP
1. Apartment Story
2. Start a War
3. Guest Room
4. Racing Like a Pro
5. Ada
6. Gospel