Concorde2, 18th February 2009

A good friend of mine once described New York Indie crooners The Walkmen as “the ultimate wintertime band”. Their music, as beautiful as it is unsettling, brings to mind a vast array of romantic images. To listen is to allow yourself to be taken on a journey, to view the world from a fresh perspective and have a good old singsong while you’re at it.

As the band amble about the dimly lit stage of Brighton’s Concorde 2, they appear calm, collected and smartly dressed. One of the more unassuming bands this reviewer has witnessed, they could almost be mistaken for the Strokes geeky younger brothers. Other contemporary comparisons include the Pixies, Interpol and more recently soul-punk protégés Cold War Kids.

The band describes their sound as melodramatic popular song. But this is not ‘Pop’; this is 100% red-blooded American Folk cranked up to eleven. The nasal tonality and lyrical flow of singer Hamilton Leithauser has all the style and virility of a young Bob Dylan, his lyrics telling tales of friendship, betrayal and faltering hearts. The beautiful and uplifting “Canadian girl” gets the audience swaying like trees in a breeze. Whereas crowd favourite “The Rat” has the opposite effect, and creates a small but perfectly formed riot at the front of the stage.
Favouring vintage guitars and organs, their songs are aglow with the dusty ambience of a nineteen-fifties prom night, the car radio pumping out hits from the likes of Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry, both of whom are an obvious influence on guitarist Paul Maroon’s piercing melodies and chime-like chords. There’s something about the dull attack of the drums, the soft melodies and the subtlety of the lyrics that paint a picture so nostalgic you can almost feel the cracked and withered edges.

A truly special live band, they favour precision over performance and focus on making their music sound magical as opposed to over-performing. Their casual chats with the audience between songs prove that their feet are planted firmly on the ground, which is quite reassuring when you consider the fact that they’ll soon be touring with Kings Of Leon.

Words by James Watts
Photography by Paul Mulley