The Walkmen

You & Me

[3.5/5]

The Walkmen were one of the first recipients of unadulterated blog lust, with their 2002 debut raising more hay than a Pitchfork on a blustery day. But while the digital Illuminati have moved on, the Walkmen still remain, unctuous and lean, for anyone who didn’t pretend to like them in the first place. You & Me is a consolidation of strengths, intensity and pathos with enough ’60s echo-chamber reverb to singe synapses. “Dónde Está La Playa” slow burns like a grown-up Vampire Weekend reared on Jack ’n’ Coke ’n’ Bob Dylan rather than mimosas and Hypercolors, but the howls of longing and regret (“On The Water,” and the organ-grinder “In The New Year”) really sting. “So it’s all over,” moans singer Hamilton Leithauser, but their trip is just beginning, with room for you and me and everyone. (GIGANTIC) Erick Haight