The Walkmen

Lisbon (Fat Possum)

By Amanda Stovall
Published: September 16th, 2010 | 1:00pm

The Walkmen have been on my radar since I first heard Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone (Startime International) playing in a blue tinted living room during a college Halloween party. The surreal atmosphere of the party, the dream pop sounds of the record, and aluminum, scratchy vocals of singer Hamilton Leithauser secured an instant love affair that has not been tainted by time. (The excess of cheap beer might have also contributed, but I’ve since enjoyed the record many times sober.)

Pre-existing feelings can cause a problem when presented with a band’s new material, as expectations ride high and disappointment falls that much harder. The band’s sixth studio album, Lisbon, successfully avoids disappointment while traversing into new territory, a musical tribute to the topography of both the city of inspiration and the vast and varied landscape of music itself. It sways between the tinny pop rock of songs like “Juveniles,” to the ‘50s slow dance tempo found in “Torch Song,” winding down to the soft and simple melody of “While I Shovel the Snow.” Traveling to Portugal twice during the album’s creation helped inspire songs that mirror waves breaking on a beach, and quiet, starry nights. “Angela Surf City” opens with staccatoed, rolling snare drum and plucked electric guitar notes that bloom open like waves, then explodes into dance rock as Leithauser sings as though walking through a gust of wind. After “Victory,” which is punctuated by the appropriately crescendoed “Victory should be mine,” the album takes a slow turn with “All My Great Designs” and the line “I’ll haunt you night after night.” “Stranded” brings trumpets on board for an almost funerary march sound set to the lyrics “Why does the rain fall when I’m stranded and I’m starry eyed?”

If previous albums by the Walkmen seemed to be spun in the madness of dreams, this one is the lullaby that rocks you to sleep, reminding listeners in “While I Shovel the Snow” that “Half of my life I’ve been waking up / Birds in the sky could warn me there’s no life like the slow life / So for now I’ll take my time.”

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The Walkmen official Web site

The Walkmen MySpace page

Fat Possum Records