Lisbon - The Walkmen

No, not another city break, just the album of the first three months of this year for me. It’s not new. The album was released last year, but it’s been my companion a lot and feels especially apt for the beginning of spring. From the first upbeat riff on the slightly bluesy signature electric guitar in the first track Juveniles, the sun comes out from behind its winter cloud.


There are certainly some lower moments moments (“What’s the story with my old friends, Drunk and lonely to the man”) and Hamilton Leithauser’s vocals are tense and emotive throughout the album. Blue as Your Blood is a particularly wistful country/bluegrass-influenced love-song (“I give you all my love, but my heart itself is broken”), and the track entitled simple Woe is Me suggests the content is not all happy sunshine. But it is music that lifts the heart.

Musically it’s an interesting album. It’s easier listening to their earlier album Bows and Arrows (which was how I came to know them), more predictably rhythmic, with more conventionally structured rock songs, but the skill of Paul Maroon on guitar and Matt Barrick on drums is evident in their ability to keep the songs tight, despite some unusual rhythm and lingering slow sections. The trumpets in Stranded are certainly unlike conventional rock instrumentation. There are some original riffs and Leithauser is a stunningly skilled vocalist. The lyrics also add a lot, which seems to be unusual these days. “Life rolled us over like a town car.” “The life we lead came gradually... And a bitter lime will do us fine, To kill the taste.” There are some refreshingly simple and poignant words.

I saw the Walkmen live in January and had been curious to see how the live sound worked. There are  moments when the music is very simple: the signature guitar playing a riff, vocals and drums and that’s all. Add in a few unusual rhythms that leave the vocals very exposed and it’s a risky performance. But on stage they were tight and, despite no dancing, jumping or other live decoration, they were full of energy. Leithauser channelled all of his wonderful tension into the microphone and you’d almost expect him to expire after every show.

They are writing new material at the moment, so it can’t be too long before a new album will be coming out of New York/Philadelphia.