Recap The Walkmen at Turner Hall

Coming off of a well-received set this weekend at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, The Walkmen were in top form when they visited Turner Hall Wednesday. Rather than attempt to simply duplicate the woozy, last-call feeling of 2008’s You & Me (which would have been difficult for a show that began promptly at 9:15 p.m.), the band opted for a more aggressive delivery. The strategy paid off, as songs such as “On The Water” growled with a sort of menace, hinting that the night portrayed so vividly throughout You & Me could turn dangerous, even ugly, at any moment.

Adding to this feeling of unpredictability was the drumming of Matt Barrick. The Walkmen often veer ever so close to full-blown bombast, but Barrick’s skilled, somewhat off-kilter approach keeps the band from being overwhelmed by the sheer density of its sound. Then there’s frontman Hamilton Leithauser, who possesses one of the best voices in indie rock. While he’s definitely not the most technically proficient vocalist, the vitality of his refreshingly masculine delivery makes him stand out in a scene dominated by shoegazers and asexual mumblers.

There is a definite sense of darkness to much of the Walkmen’s material, and a close reading of Leithauser’s lyrics finds a young man preoccupied with the travails of aging. During a stirring rendition of “The Rat” (from the band’s 2004 breakthrough album Bows + Arrows), Leithauser seemed to grapple with how growing older has isolated him from a world that he once took for granted, singing, “When I used to go out, I knew everyone I saw. Now I go out alone, if I go out at all.” Leithauser recently turned 30, and perhaps he’s still trying to reconcile getting older with any sort of rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

Yet the band’s closing song, “New Country,” hinted at a sort of optimism that can come with growing up. There can be a certain freedom that comes with maturation, and not caring what others think about you—that definitely holds true for The Walkmen and the idiosyncratic path they've taken on the last couple of records. As Leithauser sang: “Don’t worry about me / I got no more baggage / I threw all my old things away.” Maybe, the band seemed to say, getting older doesn’t have to suck.