The Walkmen

It's been 12 years since the singer-less members of the prematurely defunct Jonathan Fire*Eater decided to join forces with the raw, soaring, Dylan-meets-Westerberg vocals of Hamilton Leithauser and form the Walkmen. Heaven marks the band's sixth studio album in that time, having released an album without fail every other year. This new release, however, may not be the album many fans were expecting. Starting off with acoustic ballad "We Can't Be Beat," with its doo-wop backing, you couldn't be blamed for assuming that this would act as a false start, but it is in fact a not wholly unreliable indicator of the tone of the album as a whole. However, it's not until ten tracks in, with "The Love You Love," that a hint of the driven, punk-infused Walkmen as we know them comes to light. Heaven, despite being the band's most pedestrian release to date, is nevertheless a solid album and an interesting left turn for the East coast band.