[Pre Order] The National - Boxer - MFSL 45RPM LP *

Release Date: TBA

Widely Hailed as One of the Greatest Albums of the 2000s: The National's Breakthrough Boxer Captures Modern Anxiety, Adulthood, and Longing Through Matt Berninger's Resonant Baritone and Rich Orchestral Arrangements

Hear Boxer in Audiophile Sound for the First Time on Vinyl: Mobile Fidelity's Numbered-Edition 180g 45RPM 2LP Set Presents the Landmark Record with Exceptional Presence, Warmth, and Spatial Depth

Released in 2007, Boxer is the album that transformed The National from critically adored cult act into one of the most important rock bands of their generation. Produced by Peter Katis and Bryce Dessner, the record marks a masterful convergence of Matt Berninger's world-weary baritone, the Dessner brothers' layered guitar textures, and Bryan Devendorf's intricate rhythmic pulse — all bound together by arrangements that draw as naturally from chamber music as from indie rock.

From the restrained tension of "Fake Empire," which unfurls over a lopsided piano figure as Berninger narrates a nation sleepwalking through its own collapse, to the slow-burn romantic anguish of "Slow Show," the quietly devastating "Ada," and the closing ceremony of "Gospel," Boxer reveals itself as a record deeply concerned with the gap between adult life as imagined and as lived. Its sophistication lies not in grandeur but in precision — in how much meaning the band coaxes from a well-placed string phrase or a single syllable extended just a moment too long.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition 180g 45RPM 2LP set presents Boxer in audiophile sound with striking warmth, transparency, and imaging. The slower rotational speed and wider grooves of the 45RPM format allow the nuances of Katis's production — the way room ambience wraps around Berninger's voice, the precise attack of each piano note, the shimmer of brushed cymbals — to emerge with a presence and dimensionality that honors the record's meticulous craft.

Side One:

Fake Empire
Mistaken for Strangers
Brainy

Side Two:

Squalor Victoria
Green Gloves
Slow Show

Side Three:

Apartment Story
Start a War
Guest Room

Side Four:

Racing Like a Pro
Ada
Gospel