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.