Discomfort beats cool

Start with the band's name - the National. It's tough to imagine a drier and more nondescript appellation. To make matters less auspicious, it's attached to a group of five thoroughly unflamboyant guys who make rarely showy music and hail from the less-than-sexy state of Ohio.

So how exactly does a band with such little regard for grabbing attention end up performing on the "Late Show with David Letterman," touring with the Arcade Fire and earning the adoration of Bruce Springsteen?

Clearly, the songs have to be stellar, and with the National that's absolutely the case. A moody, vaguely noirish quintet, the group creates disconcertingly evocative piano-driven rock that subtly and unflinchingly explores the darker sides of the common American experience, bringing to light the vices and transgressions that underlie domestic life.

In that context, the band's generic moniker and unflashy mien emerge as the products not of laziness but of careful artistic craft, allowing lead singer Matt Berninger and the instrumentalists behind him to identify intimately with the facelessly harried characters that populate the group's songs.

Of course, getting people excited about such darkly uncomfortable music is no easy task, and it took traveling an understandably long road for the National to reach its current buzzed-about terrain.

"At first, no one even wanted us to open for them because we weren't cool enough," says National bassist Aaron Dessner. "Being from Ohio just made us naturally self-effacing, and we never had any delusions of where being in a band would take us."

After several years of plugging away and building a fan base, however, the National began to garner a wider response with its 2005 album, "Alligator," which gradually won acclaim as an increasing number of critics were exposed to its mysterious charms. The stage was set for this year's masterful breakthrough, "Boxer."

" 'Alligator' really crept out there and became an underground success," says Dessner. "There was definitely more anticipation for 'Boxer' and I think it turned out to be a stronger record for us as far as showing that our craft has evolved."

"Alligator" may have had to wait to hear its praises sung, but "Boxer" was rightly coronated before it even hit the shelves, opening up a wealth of new opportunities for this veteran band, beginning with a supporting slot on a much-ballyhooed tour with the Arcade Fire earlier this year. "That was really a helpful experience for us as a band," says Dessner. "The Arcade Fire is such a brilliant, energetic group, and they have a really open-minded audience that was very receptive to what we were doing."

With the extraordinary press continuing to pile in, the National was also recently invited to perform for America's favorite gap-toothed late-night ringmaster, a somewhat nerve-wracking encounter on a night when Letterman also welcomed Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy.

"We knew there were millions of people as well as our parents watching so we didn't want to screw up," says Dessner. "I remember it being very cold because Dave keeps it at like 47 degrees in the studio, and also that Matt got to touch the Super Bowl trophy."

Just another slightly surreal moment for indie-rock's masters of everyday discomfort.