The walkmen - heaven

[SteveO]

THE WALKMEN - Heaven.......released May 29, 2012






This is the first time that I have listened to The Walkmen. Their new album, their seventh studio release, Heaven is very good. Well crafted rock songs with a fresh sound. The five member indie rock band from Philadelphia and New York have been around for a decade. I love this album, one of my favorites from this year!

AllMusic Review....4/5


Happiness writes white, the maxim goes. Similarly, it's just as difficult to write songs about contentment that aren't boring, or worse, smug. However, the Walkmen manage to pull this off on Heaven, which they recorded during the celebration of the band's tenth anniversary. Just how far the band has come since the Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone days is reinforced throughout the album, from the pictures of the bandmembers with their families to Phil Ek's clean but unobtrusive production. This feeling of homecoming is all the more striking compared to the Walkmen's previous album, the woozy travelogue Lisbon. Though that album's brightest moments hinted at the happier version of the band that Heaven presents, it's still somewhat startling to hear Hamilton Leithauser and crew sound so settled on these songs. "Love Is Luck" and "Leigh's Song" sound bathed in sunshine, even more so than the Walkmen did on A Hundred Miles Off. Where they used to be searching, they now offer sage advice; Leithauser repeats "Love will decide" like a mantra on "The Witch," one of many songs taking the band's quintessentially philosophical nature in a more mature direction. And where their rockers used to rage, they now burst with exuberance; the album's title track plays like a happier version of Bows + Arrows' "The Rat," with Leithauser sounding like he's ready to beat down the door to share some good news instead of to finish an argument. However, the Walkmen's version of Heaven isn't all harps and halos; an undercurrent of regret, even apology, is often palpable, particularly on the album's many quiet, ruminative tracks such as "Line by Line" and "Dreamboat," which makes Heaven's last word one of yearning more typical for the band. That many of these more hushed songs are grouped together in the album's middle lends a somewhat uneven feel that is especially jarring when the band returns to poppier territory. But even if it's not the band's most cohesive work, Heaven comes across as a more or less triumphant culmination of the Walkmen's first decade, and the fact that happiness fits the band better than anyone could have expected is just a welcome bonus.

Sound Samples

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8yDtfGl30s - Heaven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_-QtXBP_F0 - Heartbreaker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZPZ_ot8gBI - The Love You Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwo8F6H-AxE - We Can't Be Beat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV-dwUdoJxU - Song For Leigh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-91Ix2Ntvs - The Witch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mk5zp2-lWY - Love Is Luck

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgwhbW3OQV4 - Dreamboat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_AOmm76U0w - Southern Heart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEyg8rNud_k - Line By Line

[Music Head]

very good SteveO
wanted to get to this one, but haven't had time
thanks

[LMD]

I once knew a girl who really liked them. Their song "We've Been Had" was one of her favorites. You should give it a try SteveO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoBGqLt96Pg

On that note, I hate them because she likes them, so I'm a little biased when discussing them and thus I'll show myself out of this thread now.

[SteveO]

My pleasure MH! I try to help out a little when I have time...your reviews and those of Crazy are awesome!!!!...thanks guys!

As for the Walkmen, they're very good!

very good SteveO
wanted to get to this one, but haven't had time
thanks

[SteveO]

Thanks for the clip. LMD...I really liked it!

I once knew a girl who really liked them. Their song "We've Been Had" was one of her favorites. You should give it a try SteveO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoBGqLt96Pg

On that note, I hate them because she likes them, so I'm a little biased when discussing them and thus I'll show myself out of this thread now.

[danielkr94]

I've never heard of The Walkmen before, but after listening to the sound samples i wish i had.

[PennyLane]

I don't hate them, but I do not love them. I have listened to the album, but there is not much that makes me want to listen more. I found his voice a little uncomfortable. But I like We Can't Be Beat​.