Artist: The Walkmen       
Album: A Hundred Miles Off
Label: Record Collection
Tracks: 12
Length: 41:54
Review by: Luke Kruse 

 

For many artists, a masterpiece album can cast a heavy shadow on the rest of their career output.  Every fan and critic will constantly be comparing new material to the standard of earlier work, effectively trapping an artist from moving forward.  For The Walkmen, their masterpiece is not necessarily an entire album, but one song.  For many, 2004’s “The Rat” from their sophomore album Bows & Arrows was a high mark in not just the career of The Walkmen, but the entire garage rock/indie rock scene.  Almost every review I’ve come across of the The Walkmen’s new album A Hundred Miles Off bemoans the fact that no song rivals the intensity and awesomeness of “The Rat.”  For those willing to accept the fact that The Walkmen may never write another song as immediately captivating as “The Rat,” A Hundred Miles Off is a cohesive album of smartly written songs that showcase The Walkmen for the quality band that they are.

 

The Walkmen admitted to listening to a whole lot of Bob Dylan prior to writing and recording A Hundred Miles Off, and the influence of mid-70’s Dylan is clearly present throughout the album.  Vocalist Hamilton Leithauser howls and enunciates in a manner not unlike the old master himself, which might be off-putting to some, but certainly gives the songs a sense of urgency.  Overall, the album puts off a relaxed and expirmental vibe that sounds as though the band was having fun during its recording.  Fans of earlier work by The Walkmen will be happy to know the buzzing and hypnotic guitar sound is unchanged and that the bass and drums hold the songs together perhaps better than ever.

 

A wide variety of song structures keeps the album from ever becoming monotonous.  Mariachi horns on the opening track “Louisiana” make the song jump from the speakers.  The use of both organ and piano on “All Hands and the Cook” make the listener pay attention.   Another highlight comes in the middle of the album with “Boston,” a catchy number the builds in intensity towards the middle, but opens and closes with the laid back line, “Boston, Boston / Drinking rum and chocolate / A hundred thousand blinking lights / Are making me exhausted.”   The fantastic closer, “Another One Goes By” is a contemplative ballad with a woozy piano line with Leithauser sounding his most Dylan-esque yet.

 

Perhaps the major flaw on A Hundred Miles Off is the gap in quality between the afformentioned highlights and a few other tracks (“Good For You’s Good For Me”, “Tenley Town”)  that simply don’t leave much of an impression at all.  The Walkmen have proven that they are capable of writing songs that are as good as anyone else in the genre, and if they manage to put together an entire album of these types of songs, watch out.  Until then, A Hundred Miles Off is a solid and underrated album that should rank among the years best in the independent rock scene.