Pitchforks: 4.5/5
Record Label: Fat Possum / Bella Union
Summer is coming, and while this of course means a variety of things to a variety of different groups and people, for those who enjoy starting the summer off with a great album, the release of “Heaven” by The Walkmen should be well received.
After the release of “Lisbon” in 2010, the band quickly began work on “Heaven,” their seventh studio album since 2002 (including “Pussy Cats”). Like with each of their previous releases, “Heaven” is filled with more of what we have come to graciously accept from The Walkmen. Captivating pieces of music, masterfully arranged from track-to-track with poetically resonating lyrical and vocal contributions throughout.
Musically, the songs seem to materialize when rhythm and grove meet the necessary amount of rock, roll and/or soul needed to paint the proper scene. The gnarly, sometimes shy or boastful lyrics offered in “Heaven” force the listener to do more than just listen. One cannot help but relate to each track as they play.
The album eventually fades into silence with “Dreamboat” after singer Hamilton Leithauser croons “I left you a million times, the irony ain’t lost on me,” but before all that comes the full drive of this album.
The opening track swings like the young and confident in love, sweetly setting the stage for the noticeable shift with “Love is Luck,” “Heartbreaker” and “The Witch.”
From there, the album turns to the delicate “Southern Heart,” where the brokenhearted moans “Tell me again how you loved all the men you were after.” And as “Line by Line” trickles in, soon you are caught in its moving wave “as we all scrape by” before being rolled into “Song for Leigh” and “Nightingales.”
If the album could be reduced to two tracks that exemplify its versatility and range, they would have to be the throwback blues jam “Jerry Jr.’s Tune” (though brief) and arguably what will prove to be the album’s best track to hear live “The Love You Love.”
As it kicks off, Leithauser implores that we not “trust facts,” and instead, “trust the fiction,” all before howling “What it is and what it should be. Baby it’s the love you love, not me.”
The album’s title-track and following “No One Ever Sleeps” are perfect compositions to rest on the album’s closing track, “Dreamboat,” which serves as a kind of reminder that some of us miss our boat, or are forgotten, leaving us to watch it all drift away from the pier.
In an age where acquiring new music is as easy as a download to an MP3-playing device, it is sometimes easy to forget or overlook bands who quietly build unyielding and powerful catalogues of music throughout their careers.
Every album by The Walkmen can play as soundtracks to our lives, and “Heaven” is no exception. To experience all that this album has to offer, it is recommended that one witness it with the open road before them.
Reach the reporter at jbfortne@asu.edu
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