3 out of 5

Produced by: Greg Talenfeld, The Walkmen

Label: Startime International

The Walkmen glamour seems to only last on me for about three songs; then my attentions wander.  While the EP that preceded this had me hearing the group as a much more aggressively poppy band than the other NYers hitting the scene at that point – think The Strokes – it would seen that was just track cherry-picking, as two notable songs from that EP – Wake Up and We’ve Been Had – appear here, but stripped of front-runner status and in the context of the album, the whole shimmery guitar / solid beat / whiny vocals thing that Walkmen do is present pretty much through and through.  In comparison to followup Bows and Arrows, though, as the group has reworked some older material and is closer chronologically, to the rockier sounds of previous groups from which the band members sprang, “Everyone” allows for a few more “catchy” tracks – more drum and riff-driven – versus the atmospherics which would dominate more as time went on.  This might he why the album is criticized for its inconsistency, as the divide between the song styles is pretty severe, but as I lose interest in their shtick when its not as accessible, I admittedly find more to like here.

But my main criticism still applies: Dull empty lyrics underline an overall empty feel to the album.  Initially, with all the acclaim Walkmen received, I thought, perhaps, I wasn’t feeling their vibe because I wasn’t too big on their influences: The televisions and velvet undergrounds of the 70s NY scene.  But with more favorable consideration for my tastes, while I’m not a fan of those bands, I can appreciate their songs.  There is a soul there; there’s something very real driving the material.  And I don’t get that from Walkmen – or, for that matter, the groups that came from the same scene during the time.  It’s a lot of skill applied to a template, with a modern day self-obsessed point of view but lack of conflict equaling lyrics about, like, life, bro, and music played specifically to achieve a sound or feeling.  I think there’s a meta commentary to that overall emptiness, but I don’t think it’s intentional, and we’re so desperate to prove our musical know-how that when ringing tones suggest Television or a roundabout construction suggests VU and the group can boast NY or Chicago roots, we go all NME, proclaim genius, and call it a day.

Cynical much?  You know it.

“Everyone…” is a good album, with really tight production from Talenfeld and a good sequencing that highlights the group’s more – at this point – pop -based sensibilities, making the disc more accessible one from their catalogue if that’s your preference.  But minus that toe-tapping aspect, the music more obviously comes across like a purposeful attempt to sound meaningful, with pretty average lyrics to match.