Album Review: The Walkmen - Heaven

New York five-piece The Walkmen return with their seventh studio record, Heaven, a slow-to-mid-tempo record built mostly around fluid folk songs that primarily concern themselves with matters of love and life.

Now, to be clear, the term 'folk songs' doesn't mean the record is spineless. On the contrary, Heaven is a subtle and vigilant collection of tracks that has plenty of resolve. This is largely due to lead singer Hamilton Leithauser's voice, which is assertive without being abrasive, much like the majority of the guitar work.

A gentle guitar line opens up the record on We Can't Be Beat as lead singer Hamilton Leithauser croons, “Give me a life that needs correction, nobody loves perfection”, a somewhat ironic lyric given the careful precision of the track. We Can't Be Beat serves as introduction to the next six tracks or so, which all flow at an even pace, only occasionally breaking out in a light sweat. Heartbreaker is a little static but remains restrained as Leithauser insists, “I'm not your heartbreaker”. Meanwhile Song For Leigh has the slightest of Dylanesque inflections on the vocals and hints at The Walkmen's fondness for breaking out into full rock mode.

Eventually The Walkmen succumb to their baser urges on The Love You Love with great effect, but ultimately the driving force of Heaven is the intelligently-crafted ballads powered by Leithauser's voice and the crisp guitar work, which could easily stand alone as an instrumental record and function as the score to any indie film.

The Walkmen have a decade of experience writing and recording together that gives their latest record an effortless feel despite the obvious care taken in constructing it.