The Walkmen w/ The Broken West @ Rock and Roll Hotel
The between-set music for Friday night’s homecoming show for DC boys The Walkmen was Big Star. Nothing but Big Star, all the time.
About as a fitting as they come for California openers Broken West, who might currently be the most deserving heirs to the tattered power pop crown. They opened with lead single "Down in the Valley," drawing out the opening, ringing A-chord, double rhythm-guitar parts in classic power pop fashion. Occasionally, the band would sub in driving piano – like on "So It Goes" and "Big City" – but the effect was the same: mid-tempo, chugging pop songs, accentuated by harmonized vocals that, unfortunately, came out a little flat in the RnR Hotel mix. For a large portion of the crowd, it may not have been much to write home about, but any power pop geeks out there will likely see the Broken West as a bright light on an otherwise dim horizon.
But most folks were there for The Walkmen, and there was genuine anticipation to see them play a new, much smaller room this time around. An enhanced touring lineup, featuring members of opener Whale Etoufee as horn section, crammed onto the small stage and proceeded to bang out a variety of brand new songs for the sold out crowd. Some were better than others, and most made you wonder exactly how much The Walkmen like playing in front of a crowd. Granted, the material is all pretty dark – as a friend once said, "the soundtrack to a New York alley-way at 4 a.m." – but stage presence has never been their strong suit. There's essentially no audience interaction, hardly even any eye contact, and we counted exactly one smile during the set proper. Was it malaise? The hometown crowd? Could've been any number of things, but if you didn't already love the Walkmen, Friday probably didn't make you a convert.
Their saving grace – and what keeps this particular reviewer coming back to their music – is their ability to capture that familiar Walkmen sound wherever they go. And on Friday, in a venue notorious for its poor sound system, they still managed to pull it off. It’s a sort of jangle-drone-echo that sounds like it’s coming from a dark, empty church. More than most bands, they seem to craft songs with their sound in mind, letting Hamilton Leithauser’s growl stretch out on songs like "What Happened to You." The horns – barely audible from our position – finally kicked into full gear for "Red Moon," the kind of jaunty, beery waltz the band was meant to play. Mazarin cover "Another One Goes By" perhaps lagged more than it should have, but diminutive drummer Matt Barrick’s shuffling double backbeat ended up giving the song a serene, laidback vibe not too common in the Walkmen catalog.
What else to say? It took the crowd half the set to really get into it; predictably it was "The Rat" that got them going. I’ve read before that playing this song is like an out-of-body experience for the band, and how could it not be? It’s one of the most tightly wound, furiously played indie rock tunes in recent memory, and it spurred on a strong close to the night. Saving their most popular songs – "Little House of Savages," "Louisiana," "We’ve Been Had" – for the end of the show might have prompted critics to say nasty things about the less appreciated new stuff. Instead, let’s just say the show served to point out that thing we loved most about the Walkmen – their sound, thick with chiming guitars, organ drones, plunky keys, and tinny hi-hat wash – is still very much intact.
Photo courtesy of Amanda Mattos.