Album Review: The Walkmen’s Lisbon

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The Walkmen took two trips to Lisbon during the recording of their record named after the Portuguese capital, due out September 14th on Fat Possum.  Stuck in a “stunningly handsome” city during the rainy season provided the kind of isolation needed in order to get good work done, and after Iberia was all said and done, the boys from the East Coast had recorded over 30 songs.

The final cut of Lisbon has 11 tracks, all of which share an insularity, as well as a delicacy.  The track “Stranded,” is a song to listen to and be reminded of foreign street corners, of a European month without a sunny day, or a Walgreens in the French Quarter.  “Stranded,” was supposedly inspired by New Orleans and all the great horn players to slip through the inundated metropolis, and it’s easy to hear both the Big Easy as well as the Lisboa in the song’s funereal pace, ceremonial feel, and blue-ballad lyrics.

It doesn’t really matter how blue the lyrics are though, because any phrase delivered by the vocal vehicle of Hamilton Leithauser will sound plaintive, and it will sound good.  From the first track onward, a slowly pulsing reminisce called “Juveniles,” the casual fan is once again placed into the operatic realm of  The Walkmen, and immersed in the signature Waltz n’ Roll of the band that made it big with the languid drama on You & Me.

“Torch Song,” is as ballroom and ethereal as anything on You & Me, but with a less dour sound.  This track will be the reason you keep listening to Lisbon, even after you’ve exhausted “Stranded,” or the addictive, cinematic, darkly driving “Blue as Your Blood”.  Every chorus or breakdown on “Torch Song,” sounds like a natural pinpoint of catharsis rather than something constructed and plotted.  With less prickishness now, it’s just a cool slow song with a nice piano and cave-like vibe.  “Torch Song,” comes at the end of the six-song heart of Lisbon, and sets up the final two songs of the album nicely.

“While I Shovel the Snow,” and “Lisbon,” end the album on an ellipsis.  Both tracks are slow and sound a lot more like odes put to music than songs, but are an enjoyable denouement.  No one is going to remember or buy Lisbon for either of these songs, but within the context of the album itself, they are both brilliant.  “Lisbon,” cleanly rises into a tropical rhythm about two-and-a-half minutes in but ends up closing with the same stomping drum and same clean guitar that have been there throughout the entirety of Lisbon.

Lisbon is not as epic as a greater metropolitan population of two million, but it is as bruising as a day stuck inside a very small apartment, looking out at the rain that hasn’t stopped since you landed, and understanding the conflict of expectation and the reality of the wet fall in Europe.

Don’t let the hype that this album is going to receive from assholes like me discourage you from selling-out and buying it.  I haven’t even talking about “Victory,” or the two straight surf songs on Lisbon.

Mp3: The Walkmen – Blue as Your Blood

Mp3: The Walkmen – Stranded