The Walkmen: You & Me

It's been a long time coming, but from the first

groggy rumblings of The Walkmen's fourth album, it's clear that the party's

over. Much as Sound Of Silver saw LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy waking up to

the morning after, You & Me finds singer Hamilton Leithauser contemplating "Seven

Years Of Holidays" and realizing that "these wild nights are no fun"—that

in the end, everyone eventually just gets married and moves away. Granted, The

Walkmen have always been predisposed to nostalgia, a reflective tone reinforced

by their predilection for sepia instruments that thrum and flicker like old

movie reels. But where once it looked back in anger, the group has transitioned

to grudging acceptance, heaving itself off the floor with a weary sigh of "It's

back to the battle today" in ruminative opener "Donde Esta La Playa," and

facing the road ahead by "hanging on" and "getting through" with a last

remaining lover/friend in wistful, moonlit songs like "Canadian Girl" and "Four

Provinces." Those hoping for another woozy traipse from nightclub to

after-party along the lines of Bows And Arrows will be disappointed, but

then, this is an album about growing up. When Leithauser sings, "You keep

replaying through the days / That have brought you to this place / What

happened to you" in "The Blue Route," it hits home like a 30th

birthday—and as the standout "In The New Year" points out, realizing "It's

all over anyhow" can be invigorating, a way of readying oneself for the next,

far more interesting chapter.