Band : The Walkmen
Album title : Lisbon
Label : Bella Union
Distributor : V2 Benelux
Release date : 11/10/2010
Release : CD

This American Indie Rock band with members from New York City and Philadelphia as formed in 2000 from the remains of the bands The Recoils (lead singer/ guitarist Hamilton Leithauser & bass/ organ player Peter Bauer) and Jonathan Fire*Eater (guitarist/ pianist Paul Maroon, organ/ bass player Walter Martin, and drummer Matt Berick). Apparently they all hail from Washington DC, where they (except Bauer) even went to the same high school, and played in many of the same bands from early in their careers. They eventually moved to Harlem, NYC, where the guys from JFE (whom had released stuff through major label Dreamworks Records) built their own Marcata Recording studio.

Shortly after forming the new band, the guys recorded an EP's worth of material that took 'em away from the Garage Rock sounds from their past through the use of an eccentric blend of upright pianos and other vintage instruments, and had it released as their self-titled debut on the small Startime International imprint. Only àfter the EP's release in late June 2001 did the band perform its debut gig. Debut full-length Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone, released in February 2002 (also on Startime), was well received by critics, whom noted the album for its innovative approach to atmosphere and instrumentation, and comparing the material to past work of U2 and The Cure as in contrast to their contemporaries the Strokes. Additional gratification for the band came when their song “We've Been Had” was used in a commercial for a Saturn Ion automobile. In hindsight 2002 was an extremely prolific year for the band, as they also released 2 EPs (an untitled 8-track affair, and a split with the band Calla).

The band's sophomore full-length Bows + Arrows was released through Record Collection in 2004 and got listed by many critics as best album of the year, thanks to a more focused and immediate sound. With two singles, the critical acclaim led to the band playing in an episode of Fox tv-series The O.C.! In contrast to their previous outings, 2006's A Hundred Miles Off saw The Walkmen gearing their music towards Folk. First single “Louisiana” even featured a horn section. The album also saw Bauer and Martin exchanging their instruments, with the first taking on the organ and the second playing the bass. Although some reviewers had mixed feelings about the musical change, most of 'em were full of praise. That same year the band had to close their Harlem based recording studio, as Columbia University bought the building in was located at. As a farewell, they recorded “Pussy Cats” Starring The Walkmen (released Oct. 2006), a track-by-track covers album of the 1974 album Pussy Cats by Harry Nilsson & John Lennon. Some of the band members relocated t Philadelphia, and in between guitarist Paul Maroon taught hemself to play the viola and the trumpet, which led to a further musical breakthrough in the band's sound towards warmer tonalities (as oposed to the somewhat cold and standoffish style of the early years). Next album, 2008's You & Me was recorded with Chris Zane at Gigantic Studios, and first made available for $5,00 as an exclusive charitable digital download release through Indie music website Arnie Street with all proceeds donated to the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Three weeks later, on August 19, the album got its physical release, but in between it had rated #29 on Billboard's Top Digital Albums chart. Described as “intimate, intense and beautiful” by English daily paper The Guardian, success continued when the album got listed in year-lists of such prominent institutions as NPR, Pitchfork, Paste, Stereogum, Time Out NYC, and plenty of “lesser” music media.

In the two years since that release, the band went through several experimental phases, and wrote/ recorded songs in different styles. First, there was this New Orleans-style horn playing the guitarist had been working on (the track “Stranded” is an example of that, and a showcase of what the band would've sounded like 2 years ago), at one point what came out were Country-styles songs, then there was another period where what came out were simple songs with just delay, quiet guitar, and singing (that drawing from early Elvis and Sun Records). Some songs the guys felt so strong about they had 'em go through each phase, and eventually some 25 songs were recorded. It wasn't until the band made a trip to Lisbon, Portugal, that the guys fell good enough about themselves to focus on the final sound of the new album, drawing from each phase they went through. In fact, that first trip was so comforting, the Portuguese so accommodating, that the band made a second trip to the country's capitol city. In a tribute to the town, the band even made a new song to close the album.

So, there we have it, a new 11-track album showcasing, according to the info sheet we got along with out promo download of the album, some of the band's most coherent music to date! And frankly, what I hear here is musically quite all right. The only thing is, I kinda hate Hamilton Leithauser's vocal style. He's got a whining quality to his voice which gives most of the songs (exceptions? Try “While I Shovel The Snow” - I'm sure there's others, but I cannot remember just now) a nagging aftertaste I simply do not like...and evidently my low rating of the alum has everything to do with that! Of course, that's a personal thing (but surely one the band's heard before), and the band posted no less than 6 songs off the new album at myspace.com/thewalkmen so as you can all make up your own mind about their Indie Folk music! Why don't you check it out right now?

75/100

Tony.