The Walkmen, ‘Heaven’ – Song Review

Ten years after the Walkmen released their debut album, 2002′s ‘Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone,’ they return with a brand new record. ‘Heaven’ will be released this June and the D.C.-to-New York transplants have released the title track from their forthcoming album.

The song ‘Heaven’ has everything a Walkmen fan could want: a simple and janglly two-chord progression, reserved bass and drums and hopelessly hopeful lyrics that almost anyone can relate to. “Don’t leave me/ You’re my best friend/ All of my life, you’ve always been,” pleads vocalist Hamilton Leithauser. This is the type of melancholy stuff mix tapes are made from.

The Walkmen took a more business-like approach when recording ‘Heaven,’ their seventh studio album and first since 2010′s ‘Lisbon.’ Much of that is thanks to producer Phil Ek, who was behind the helm for the Shins‘ ‘Wincing the Night Away’ and Fleet Foxes‘ ‘Helplessness Blues.’

“He wouldn’t let us get away with our usual garbage we normally do in terms of playing off beat and half-assing it,” organist Peter Bauer told Paste back in February. “He was making us do things again and again until they were right, which I thought was really annoying at first. But it was really great at the end. You do hear the difference. Most of the recording we had never done, but everyone was playing live and what you get is what you get, and this was much more.”

‘Heaven’ will be available June 5 via Fat Possum Records. Listen to the title track below and give us your take on the Walkmen’s new direction.