Veteran indie rock outfit, The Walkmen follow up 2010's gorgeously serene Lisbon with the appropriately titled Heaven. If the last album was the twelve year-old band's coming-of-age, this is the New York quintet maturing into adulthood for their best effort to date. The album opens with a gingerly flickering acoustic guitar, cooing backing harmonies, and, front man, Hamilton Leithauer's slightly quivering vocals on "We Can't Be Beat", but as the song picks up steam midway through, so does Leithauser. The marching rhythm and more awakened strum usher in a suddenly soulful wail that he carries straight through the rest of the album, even giving a gritty edge to the hook of title-track that makes him sound like a distant cousin to Bruce Springsteen. Leithauser has never sounded as full of confidence and vigor as he does on tracks like "Heartbreaker", proudly belting his way through the a wash of reverberating guitar.
The greasy speckled guitar and thumping beats pushing through "Love Is Love" work brilliantly with the passionate vocals, ratcheting up the intensity while holding tight to the relaxing beach vacation vibe of Lisbon for one of the album's finest moments. The eerily humming organ of "The Witch" gives it a hint of psychedelic pop, as Leithauser calmly glides his way through the chiming riffs and steady beat. The rusted guitar twisting through "Song For Leigh" and antsy shutter of riffs toiling away on "Nightingales" show they have not lost their knack for delicious bundles of guitar goodness. The tangled guitar-drenched sound and vocal swagger of "The Love You Love" will keep you coming back to it repeatedly. At a point in their career where most bands would hit the cruise control button, The Walkmen just keep getting better as they go.
Seek - "Love Is Luck", "The Witch", "The Love You Love"
For fans of - The Shins
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