I try to remain neutral on any album until I’ve had several listens, several meaning at least 4-5. This album has had 5 thorough listens and I believe I’ve listened enough to make an accurate mini-review.
The Walkmen are an amazing band whose explosive dynamics, rhythm, and lyrics have made them my favorite band of the past ten years. However, their explosiveness (which I fell in love with in EWPTLMIG and Bows and Arrows) have slowly evaporated (A Hundred Miles Off, You and Me, and now, Lisbon), from album to album, with their current “Lisbon” being the least-explosive of the bunch. But, as their explosiveness has decreased, their creative lyrics and Hamilton’s vocals have increased ten-fold.
To me, this album is nowhere as good as the previous 4 records. It doesn’t “rock out,” has an irregular and slow collection of songs, and lacks a “hook” song that simply knocks your socks off. While, several of Lisbon’s songs are good, Lisbon as a whole is a yawn-fest. Previous Walkmen songs such as “Wake Up”, “The Rat”, “Little House of Savages”, “Thinking of a Dream”, “In the New Year”, “Emma Get Me A Lemon”, “All the Hands and the Cook,” made their albums great. They were dynamic. They are intense.
I understand the Walkmen have evolved, as all great bands do, but this album simply doesn’t rock. Angela Surf City is awesome, Stranded is good, Juveniles is a good opener, but songs such as Follow the Leader, All My Great Designs, Torch Song, While I Shovel Snow, and Lisbon are irregular, soft, and make this album extremely hard to like. Quite honestly, these songs belong on a Hamilton Leithauser solo album because it seems the rest of the band is not even involved.
I saw the Walkmen in Asheville, NC about a year ago and they played several of these songs. I remember noting how lackluster their performance was and how uninterested their performance was, outside of The Rat, Little House of Savages, and In the New Year. The previous 4 times I saw them it was the opposite – intense, explosive, dynamic, and fun.
I will not completely stop listening to Lisbon, it is a decent album that I will still try to “get into.” However, it is a let down. I know they can still explode and create the music that drew me to this band, as Angela Surf City is proof, however they have chose to go in a difference direction. While Hamilton’s lyrics and vocals are inspiring, the lack of substance and explosiveness will keep this record far from earlier Walkmen albums.
I try to remain neutral on any album until I’ve had several listens, several meaning at least 4-5. This album has had 5 thorough listens and I believe I’ve listened enough to make an accurate mini-review.
The Walkmen are an amazing band whose explosive dynamics, rhythm, and lyrics have made them my favorite band of the past ten years. However, their explosiveness (which I fell in love with in EWPTLMIG and Bows and Arrows) have slowly evaporated (A Hundred Miles Off, You and Me, and now, Lisbon), from album to album, with their current “Lisbon” being the least-explosive of the bunch. But, as their explosiveness has decreased, their creative lyrics and Hamilton’s vocals have increased ten-fold.
To me, this album is nowhere as good as the previous 4 records. It doesn’t “rock out,” has an irregular and slow collection of songs, and lacks a “hook” song that simply knocks your socks off. While, several of Lisbon’s songs are good, Lisbon as a whole is a yawn-fest. Previous Walkmen songs such as “Wake Up”, “The Rat”, “Little House of Savages”, “Thinking of a Dream”, “In the New Year”, “Emma Get Me A Lemon”, “All the Hands and the Cook,” made their albums great. They were dynamic. They are intense.
I understand the Walkmen have evolved, as all great bands do, but this album simply doesn’t rock. Angela Surf City is awesome, Stranded is good, Juveniles is a good opener, but songs such as Follow the Leader, All My Great Designs, Torch Song, While I Shovel Snow, and Lisbon are irregular, soft, and make this album extremely hard to like. Quite honestly, these songs belong on a Hamilton Leithauser solo album because it seems the rest of the band is not even involved.
I saw the Walkmen in Asheville, NC about a year ago and they played several of these songs. I remember noting how lackluster their performance was and how uninterested their performance was, outside of The Rat, Little House of Savages, and In the New Year. The previous 4 times I saw them it was the opposite – intense, explosive, dynamic, and fun.
I will not completely stop listening to Lisbon, it is a decent album that I will still try to “get into.” However, it is a let down. I know they can still explode and create the music that drew me to this band, as Angela Surf City is proof, however they have chose to go in a difference direction. While Hamilton’s lyrics and vocals are inspiring, the lack of substance and explosiveness will keep this record far from earlier Walkmen albums.