Walkmen

***Received an 8.1 rating from Pitchfork. “The detachment you can feel throughout our younger records is gone. We felt like it was time to make a bigger, more generous statement.” When describing the new album, Heaven (produced by PHIL EK—Fleet Foxes, Band of Horses, Built to Spill etc.), THE WALKMEN lead singer HAMILTON LEITHAUSER portrays a band hitting maturity, comfortable in its mastery, after a decade together. Adds guitarist PAUL MAROON, “when you’re starting out, you’re sitting there trying to come up with a big idea, but after a while, you learn about the process of writing. You learn about your friends in the band and how they work best.” It’s been ten years since the Walkmen made their debut album, Everybody Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone. Ten years since they mixed the lovingly recorded analogue tapes down to the cheapest CD burner they could find. Ten years since lead singer Hamilton Leithauser snapped guitarist Paul Maroon’s arm in a celebratory wrestling match. Ten years since critics attached them to a New York scene they never wanted any part of. But when Leithauser sings “We Can’t Be Beat,” on the opening track of their new album, he means it, like Cool Hand Luke getting up off the floor for one more round. “The world is ours,” he declares. This time, he may be right.