Premature Evaluation: The Walkmen - You & Me
Before we got to soak-in the woozy organ and raw yelps of "In the New Year," the last taste we had of the Walkmen was that one-off "Lemon Hill." As we mentioned then, the Men said "Lemon" wasn't "exactly in line with the other stuff we are doing now." "In The New Year"'s clattering drums, urgent enunciations, general ragamuffin vibe, and almost Strokes-y swagger definitely suggested a different path. Listening to the 14 tracks on the band's fourth album You & Me confirms it. The new one's accompanying press release referenced Elvis, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Randy Newman, the Modern Lovers, and the Pogues. Hmm, some of these seem like empty promises. But how about Danger Mouse?
Seriously, some of the production here (a la the underwater drums on "Dónde está la Playa") suggest Mouse's dark eerie knob-turning. In fact, most of the collection has a moody, ambient sensibility to it, though it was John Agnello (The Hold Steady's Boys & Girls... and Stay Positive) and Chris Zane who engineered it. But then, you won't be confusing these ragtag anthems for the beer-soaked anthems of Craig & Co. anytime soon. It's more of a late-night brandy-infused Closing Time. Lyrically, "In The New Year" found Leithauser watching loved ones move away and wanting to get home, through storms and snow and therapy. The first track "Dónde está la Playa" asks us to locate the beach. OK, it's buried beneath years and snow. A thread of loss, battling the elements, runs throughout You & Me. Think about the album title, for instance -- it can suggest a togetherness, but also a war, nostalgia, loss. Years roll by everywhere, marked by holidays and faded recollections. In "New Country," Ham gets a letter, throws all his old things, turns down an offer. There's the self-explanatory "I Lost You." In the somber, horn-accented "Red Moon," darkness is wrapped all around. (There's also something Canadian going on here with "Canadian Girl" and "Four Provinces" ... the two tracks up the mood a bit after "Red Moon.")
Musically, the unhinged, rougher or sketchier sound is great. It creeps throughout, and wears well the weight Hamilton confesses in each song. The way "On The Water" builds from quiet, ethereal balladry to a horse-voiced anthem (whistling, shimmering guitar distortion). That harp sound paired with the organ sustain a minute into "Long Time Ahead of Us." "Seven Years of Holidays (for Stretch)"'s percussion crashes as the band rollicks, the strings sooth, as does Leithauser. Throughout, Hamilton sounds like he truly is battling the dying of the night -- both smooth and raspy, urgent and assured.
Face it, the quest for this year's Summer Jam is doomed; wallets are tight and frivolity doesn't seem right. But in shifting the search to something more mood appropriate, a Slow Jam '08, we've found our champion in "Red Moon," with its romantic and pensive struggles, a focus on real problems and romantic baptisms (hopes the the "water will wash us away," etc.). This is the song to soundtrack this year's montages. Those weary horns, the midnight tambourine, drifting into a quiet climax -- Hamilton and guitar, "You shine like the steel on my knife / Darkness is wrapped around all around me tonight." It's a startlingly affecting moment of songcraft, the midpoint -- and pivot point -- of the record, and a snapshot of why, unexpectedly, the Walkmen are a band that matters in 2008.
A complaint could be that there are some patches that sound similar to things before or after them. That some pieces sound more like ambient filler than fully realized pieces. But mostly, we're taken aback by just how great this album is. Something about the last few years had us thinking the page was turning on them. Wrong. Taken as a whole You & Me congeals in a shaggy-dog, less than perfect, but time-defining and unforgettable sort of way. Kinda like a relationship.
You & Me is out 8/19 via Gigantic.
Premature Evaluation
Tags: The Walkmen
This is my album of the year so far.
Score = 11
I really can't get over how surprisingly good this record is.
Score = 6
i totally co-sign on what you said. my first reaction was, "WTF, this is REALLY good," but then, i was like, "WTF am i WTF'ing this for? this is their third really good album (sorry, 'a hundred miles off')!"
holy fuck, this record is pretty great.
Score = 4
walkmen are rubbish listen to my new tune. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=120M6CB4
Score = -56
Walkmen are great. STFU. This album is good. Btw, that tune is a remix. I don't judge remixes before the original.
Score = -1
this album is amazing.
Score = 3
"clattering drums, urgent enunciations, general ragamuffin vibe, and almost Strokes-y swagger definitely suggested a different path."
I would argue that all of the above accurately describe all three previous Walkmen albums...
Great record. Surprise surprise. Hopefully this will get people to revisit A Hundred Miles Off and realize that this band has a very solid career.
Score = 5
Perceptive evaluation of a very impressive album. While the vibe on tracks like "New Moon" and "Canadian Girl" is unexpected, it still sounds like no one else but The Walkmen. I honestly can't think of another band right now who could record songs that sound quite like this. They've carved out quite a (superb) niche for themselves.
Score = 2
The French Kicks ape this sound pretty unabashedly.
Score = 0
where can i nab a listen?
Score = 0
I'm about halfway through my first listen. Wow. They did not disappoint.
And bash A Hundred Miles Off if you want but that record got me into this band. It's awesome, if only for that reason.
Score = 0
I love this album. It is all I want to listen to
Score = 1
Great Band Great Album Best drummer in rock
Score = 1
One of the best bands of the last six years. They deserve a bigger audience.
Score = 0
Great record
Score = 0
I'm more excited than ever about this album. Another month before I can enter the discussion though. I also really loved 'A Hundred Miles Off', and I'm glad there are people here to defend it. Does anyone else feel there are aspects of The Walkmen's themes, consistency, and trajectory that draws several parallels between them and The National? I'm not saying they sound the same, but I think they are ... shaped alike.
Score = 0
^agreed on the national vibes... this record is replacing boxer as my go to sleepytime album. dont mean that as a backhanded compliment or anything.. its just great to pass out to on a hot new york night
Score = 0
this IS the soundtrack to summer 08 - just be sure you have enough margarita mix and your maracas handy.
Score = 0
Possibly their best album yet... will ned many more listens to absorb fully. I like the spare insrumentation/production, especially after the somewhat grating sound of Hundred Miles. Great band
Score = 0
I agree that this is their best album from start to finish. I just hope that, despite the newfound mellowness that comes from getting older, they don't lose any of that trademark intensity when they play live in the coming months. Great record.
Score = 1
Agreed. Matt Barrick is quite possibly my favorite musician in the whole wide world (and The Walkmen most certainly my favorite band) and I'm not even a drummer. I'm trying really hard to wait until the 19th to buy the album in order to keep tradition alive - get to record store early as possible, buy album, run home and listen - but everything I'm hearing about it is making it really hard to wait.
Score = 0