POP/ROCK

The National, "High Violet" (4AD)

With 2004's excellent "Alligator" and 2007's even better "Boxer," Brooklyn's the National perfected a dark and stirring aesthetic of brooding songs with choruses that worm into the brain while retaining a sense of mystery and triumph. Those albums were growers, but this one still broods. Too many songs seem content to get by on midtempo atmosphere and louche, dissolute sentiments. Songs such as "Little Faith," set primarily on New York's streets, only occasionally lock into focus. And there are some missteps, notably the horror-movie narrative of "Conversation 16." Still, there's good stuff here: the sexy rocker "Bloodbuzz, Ohio," the dense, rumbling "Terrible Love," the understated, insistent "Lemonworld." And sometimes beautifully textured brooding is enough.

The National performs Aug. 5-6 at First Avenue in Minneapolis.

STEVE KLINGE, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

Michael Bolton, "One World One Love" (Universal Motown)

Bolton used to demonstrate his ostentatiousness by oversinging. Age may not have dimmed his commitment to the heartrending lyric, but it has altered his approach. His first album of primarily new material since 2002 shows what happens when passion meets comfort. This is a notably calm, restrained album. Certainly, "Ready for You," a seductive, slinky, lite-reggae number, should be ludicrous, but its contentedness is affecting. The insular "Need You to Fall" opens with aggressive acoustic guitar, and "You Comfort Me" is stunningly controlled, full of grandiloquent statements of loyalty. Bolton's voice is forceful, but you can hear him pulling back from the big notes, his ambition now for balance, not slaughter.

His most muscular turn is on Van Morrison's "Crazy Love." "Murder My Heart," a collaboration with a pre-fame Lady Gaga, is intermittently sour, though she tempers his bombastic impulses neatly. "The Best," done with Ne-Yo, is unmistakably Ne-Yo, all propulsion and regret, neither of which Bolton does well.

JON CARAMANICA, NEW YORK TIMES