Hundred Miles Off
The Walkmen's third album steers their ever challenging sonic textures into greener, more expansive landscapes and finds the fresh air there downright invigorating. A focused, more guitar-centric approach is notable throughout, with textures that span the jangly invitation of the Mexicali horn-spiced opener "Louisiana" to the droning, hypnotic buzz of "Good For You's Good For Me" and churning rhythms of "Boston"; reminders that the band's frequent nods to Joy Division are considerably more than mere affectation. Set against those textures, the nervous "Tenley Town" comes off as a surprisingly straightforward shot of the band's thrashy, garage-rooted past. Frontman Hamilton Leithauser frequently invokes a vocal persona that suggests Dylan on too much coffee and not enough sleep throughout. Yet he's limber enough to coax it into the supple, Caribbean-flavored lounge croon of "Brandy Alexander" and the brooding edge of "This Job Is Killing Me" before bringing the album full circle on a surprisingly tender cover of Quentin Stoltzfus's "Another One Goes By" that somehow evokesNashville Skylineby way of Manchester '78.--Jerry McCulley