The Walkmen
“Heaven”
Heaven (Fat Possum)
I admit that I’m a little late on this one, and honestly it’s because it has taken me a few days to figure out whether I actually like this song. Don’t get me wrong, over the last decade the very well dressed NYC via DC quartet have carved out a unique sound, delivered countless spellbinding shows (note: if you aren’t sure whether you like the Walkmen, go see them live. You’ll get it), and wrote one of the best songs of my lifetime. I’m a fan. But I’ve never really been able to quite figure out where I’m supposed to put them in the Pantheon. I keep being told that they are transcendent, but they’ve never spoken to me in the way that groups like the National, Beach House, and LCD Soundsystem do, which is actually the problem I have with them.
For whatever reason, they’ve been portrayed as game changers, when really they are just a very good rock band with an interesting sound that was never quite able to capture the generation in the way that many thought they would. They seemed to have mellowed with age, but, like the best parts of their pretty-damn-good last album Lisbon, “Heaven” is a competent performance from a band whose 75% is better than most other’s best.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/41162024″ iframe=”true” /]
Well said. I couldn’t agree more. You can’t not like The Walkmen, and yeah, they’re great live, but they’ve just never been that inspiring although the potential has always been there. They have a few tracks that are definitely more memorable than others but they generally tend to blend into the background. With that said, I’m still a fan.