Fat Possum Records: Lisbon
Another two years have passed and class act-indie sensation, The Walkmen, have released another album. Since 2002’s Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone, the D.C. natives have consistently put out a full length record every two years, and if there is one thing the band is known for, it’s the ability to alter its sound during each outing. Not only do they continue this ever-evolving tradition with the debut of their sixth studio album Lisbon, but the change has made for a new addicting, laidback Walkmen outfit.
The group usually suggests their sound is like U2 and Joy Division but with Lisbon they seem more like a spaced-out, disheartened Beach Boys with Rod Stewart singing instead of the Wilson brothers. The swell breaks flawlessly for Paul Maroon and Hamilton Leithauser, whom split guitar duties. Only Carl Wilson on the Santa Monica pier with an old Rickenbacker could have done it better.  They keep it rapid, fluid and scarce, rattling every jam with an echoed and slithered sound – the epitome of surf rock.
Lisbon is a beach party soundtrack – a beach party consisting of pasty, sun-block on the nose, shoe-on-the-sand wearing hipsters. It digs deep into the heart of surf rock, but instead of the beach themes there are themes about romance (an indie staple). Its a beach bum’s groove with an emo kid’s soul.
It’s not as superior as their critically acclaimed second album Bows + Arrows, but it can still stand on its own. It gets a knee from New York producer Chris Zane, whom the band has hired for the second album in a row and has crafted acts like Passion Pit and Mumford and Sons. It seems Leithauser’s voice has been scratched with a cheese grate tapping into the spirit of Rod Stewart. The tracks are heavy on guitar and consistent drum with a horn lead every so often – taking a lesson from textbook surf rock (its either a horn or guitar that leads a surf ditty).
Chief themes include: the blissful ignorance of naïve love (“Juveniles”), running away from naïve love (“Lisbon”), because of a naïve lover (“Angela Surf City”). Despite an obvious storyline, Leithauser tells vague stories; in the song “While I Shovel the Snow,” he says “Half of my life I’ve been watching/and half of my life I’ve been waking up/birds in the sky could warn me/there’s no life like the snow life.”Blue As Your Blood” borrows a Johnny Cash country intro as Leithauser makes an insult seem like a compliment preaching, “oh hazy lazy days I could dream of you forever/under the shade of the Juniper tree/I sing a sad song for you and me/the sky is blue as your blood.”
The background of The Walkmen is not interpreted in a song from Lisbon. Although like stated earlier, the chemistry of the band is so powerful it is not needed. They have known each other since they were 15-years-old, all attending the same Washington D.C. area high school. And like one of their musical doppelgangers, U2, they have never replaced a member. It seems that they are benefiting from the same syndrome; keeping it close by staying with the founding members. People question if a method such as this is overall beneficial to a band and its growth. The reply is taking a look at U2 and where they have gone. It seems The Walkmen are headed in the same direction.
Buy the album at our record store on Amazon
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