Picking just one album for the coveted position of favourite album of 2012 seemed like the most daunting and painstakingly hard task set to me. I have listened to a few fair albums this year, constantly changing my mind with every new week of releases but the album that I have chosen is an album that when I first heard it was completely blown away by and played on constant repeat for the rest of the day and subsequently for the rest of the week. It is album that I have continuously turned to either out of boredom to fill the time, a perk up on a bad day or when nothing else seem to fill or satisfy my need to listen to a good record. That album is Heaven by The Walkmen.
10 years and 7 albums later in to their fruitful flush of a music career and The Walkman dish up their best album yet. ‘Heaven’ is what I would categories as a late bloomer. They have built their career slowly but surely over the past 10 years, peaking and troughing, improving and gravitating towards precision. They have seemingly evolved with their craft over the decade finally emerging victorious with this album. They may have peaked early on with “The Rat” but it is ‘Heaven’ that is their true work of art. There is this notion that talent lies in the folds of youth, do we create are best work during are younger years or is talent something we acquire with time and experience? Surely creativity develops as we live and learn and with time we become wiser and better. This idea can be applied to the matured development of The Walkmen’s latest album as we see the band ripen into a sound that they have been working towards on each of their records. I hate to use such an obvious phrase as all killer no filler but I can’t find fault with this album or pick out a dud track.
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From the slow sombre tempo of “We Cant Be Beat” and “Song for Leigh” to the boasting bravado of “The Witch” each song embodies its own unique little quality and picks at an emotion within me. With each listen I find something new and exciting within its folds that make me want to delve in more to its narrative.
‘Heaven’ is a fractured tale of love and heartbreak; lovesick ballads pieced together by two a cord bass guitar, soft rifts and a sweeping wholesome energy. The structure of the album doesn’t dither too much and flows quiet nicely, it has a melancholic bitter sweet energy to it that tingles every now and then with a flutter of upbeat vigour. The wielding tempo of Nightingales is the perfect example of this as it orbits its giddy harmony before it breaks into the slow crawl of Jerry Jr’s Tune.
Like most fans of the Walkmen my introduction to them was when I first heard the bands most glorified track “The Rat”. With its phenomenal wallops of percussion from drummer Matt Barrick, throttles of guitar and it’s poignant harmonies that song will go down in history as one of The Walkmen’s finest moments but eager fans that have been waiting the promise of a follow up then they can look no further as ‘Heaven’ offers up “The Love You Love”. With its stomp of crushed beats and tortured howls of “baby it’s the love you love” this belter of a song will makes you want to sing its chorus with a forceful might.
It’s the albums title track however that stands out the most for me. The first time I heard “Heaven” I was complete hooked. Amplifying the bands most aptitude qualities of song writing and musical craftsmanship, “Heaven” makes my ears and heart fluctuate with excitement at its buoyant beat, shakes of tambourine and taunt harmonies. Hamilton Leithauser crooning tender vocals of “don’t leave me, oh, you’re my best friend” bring it all together sweeping it up into to one elevating force as I go to press the repeat button once again.
