The Walkmen

On the fourth album from NYC's most dedicated vintage instrumentalists (dig those organs!), the songs emerge from a closed-door muffle, unfurl into snappy choruses with the unpolished clatter of 4-track recordings, and then return to soft-focus sleepiness just as abruptly. Neither indie rock nor retro Americana, the Walkmen mark a cross between Rain Dogs-era Tom Waits and early Palace Brothers (think "Stable Will") -- a version of the Strapping Fieldhands you can play on the radio. The ascending organ line from "In the New Year" needs to be in the next Wes Anderson film.

Emerging alongside the Strokes in New York's back-to-basics rock revival in the early '00s,
the Walkmen always seemed more emotional than their cool next-wave peers, and that
impression is cemented by this brooding yet uplifting set. A benefit for a local cancer
center, in honor of a friend battling leukemia, the album radiates boozy sentimentality and
tunefulness — perhaps a byproduct of the band's startlingly faithful 2006 remake... More >