The National: A Skin, A Night & The Virginia EP

The DVD/CD set A Skin, A Night & The

Virginia EP positions

an hourlong documentary as the star of the show, but the album's worth of extra

music is what should ultimately sell it. A Skin, A Night was shot and directed by

French filmmaker Vincent Moon, who found Internet fame with a series of "Take

Away Shows" featuring bands playing stripped-down songs in unusual, intimate

settings—Arcade Fire in an elevator, R.E.M. in a car, The National around

a table. There's no denying he has an incredible eye and sensibility, but The

National recording the dark, elegant Boxer apparently didn't offer much story arc.

There are hints of tension and doubt, but mostly A Skin, A Night offers a pretty, artsy,

slightly boring hour of conversations, live performances, and recording

sessions.

The Virginia EP, on the other hand, makes

a good case for why anyone would want to make a movie about The National in the

first place. The band has been cresting for three years, and it's at a point

where even the demos, B-sides, and covers could switch places with singles, and

fans would be just as happy. "You've Done It Again, Virginia" would've fit

snugly on Alligator or Boxer: It's all molasses, smoke, and muted horns. It's

the first and best track on the 50-minute disc, which also gathers more

unreleased studio tracks, demos (a markedly different "Slow Show"), and even a

version of Bruce Springsteen's "Mansion On The Hill." It ends, as National

concerts do, with an epic version of the gorgeous "About Today," whose

transformation from sad and sorry to fraught and overwhelming perfectly

distills the band's swirling mix of light and dark.