The Walkmen's members create an airy, room-filling, guitar-driven racket when needed, but they also craft ballads with loving attention to detail, sprinkling in delicate bells and wintry piano. Singer Hamilton Leithauser's vocals float above the din, ranging from bruised and beaten to raging and intense, giving The Walkmen a tone of introspection not often found in the work of their peers.
On A Hundred Miles Off, the band even channels Bob Dylan, taming the storm heard on its past albums. At its best -- particularly on a cover of Mazarin's "Another One Goes By" that's driven by The Walkmen's trademark jangle and Leithauser's boozy yowls -- the group brings out the sort of resigned, peaceful quality found in Mazarin's original.
The song possesses a quiet, lilting beauty that's equal parts romantic and unnerving -- "Kissing your skin / your skeleton / pierces my daydreams" -- with a melody perfectly suited to a lazy summer afternoon. The song's sustained electric guitars produce a gentle, shimmering, strangely ramshackle beauty that's not soon forgotten.
Listen to yesterday's 'Song of the Day.'
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