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New Walkmen CD improves from weak previous effort

By Mitch Ringenberg
<mringenberg@hilite.org>

The Walkmen’s 2004 sophomore release “Bows + Arrows” remains to this day one of my all-time favorite indie albums. The album maintained a very spacey and atmospheric feel to it, while lead singer Hamilton Leithauser wailed about heart break and melancholy. Unfortunately, the band’s follow-up, “A Hundred Miles Off,” was a disappointment, and a complete cover of the album “Pussy Cats” by Harry Nilsson and John Lennon was unexciting and ultimately pointless.

The band displays an impressive return to form with its latest album “You & Me.” The album opener, “Dónde Está La Playa,” begins with a haunting rhythm that builds into a shattering climax by the end of the song. “In The New Year,” one of the album’s standout songs, would not sound out of place on something like “Bows + Arrows.”

The lyrical themes remain as simple as ever, and the music doesn’t break much new ground, although this time around, the band holds off on doing any straight-up rock songs, instead choosing to go with a more moody and mellow sound. That doesn’t mean it has made any major departures musically, but fans looking for another “The Rat” will be disappointed.

The best songs on the album are almost as good as anything the band has ever done. These songs include “On The Water,” “The Blue Route,” “In The New Year” and “New Country.” However, the weak spots on this album prevent it from being truly exceptional. The album’s biggest fault lies in its length. At fourteen songs, the album just has a bit too much filler to be as good as it could be. Also, listeners unfamiliar with the band may complain that the album seems to run together. New listeners would be well advised to start with “Bows + Arrows.”

Maybe I’m doing the album an injustice in wanting it to be another masterpiece like its sophomore album. I mean, it takes a truly special band to make lightning strike twice. The fact that the Walkmen has made an album this good after its last two poor releases is impressive.

One of the first things I noticed on this album right off the bat was the confidence the band shows in these songs. The band’s sound isn’t much different, but the songs on “You & Me” definitely have a mature feel that hasn‘t been heard from it on any of its previous albums.

Most bands, at some point, make an attempt to mature its sound. Sometimes this can fail miserably (almost any punk band) or actually improve on an earlier formula (The Velvet Underground, Bright Eyes) definitely succeeds to some degree at this, as it evolves its sound while still sounding like the same band.

Here, The Walkmen delivers an almost-great album that will be sure to thrill longtime fans while at the same time drawing in new listeners. This album can stand as one of 2008’s best indie rock albums along with Islands’ “Arm’s Way” and Vampire Weekend’s debut.

—

THE WALKMEN “YOU AND ME”
Lyrics: B-
Sound: A-
Rhythm: B+
Best Songs: “On the Water,” “The Blue Route,” “In the New Year,” “New Country”
Price: $12.99
Overall: B+

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