For 10 seconds in the middle of The Walkmen’s performance of “All Hands & The Cook” during their Sept. 22 show at the 9:30 club, singer Hamilton Leithauser arched his back, gripped his microphone and clearly exhibited every vein in his neck as he held a single note in the middle of the lyric, “If you don’t like it, won’t you tell me?”
The phrase “10 seconds” is often used as shorthand for “no time at all,” and in most situations, such a short moment cannot hold any significance. But screaming in Leithauser’s sore-throated, somehow suave rasp for 10 entire seconds is a feat. He had the stage presence of an angry Frank Sinatra. Guitarist Paul Maroon quietly played his instrument under Leithauser’s yell as the audience cheered on, using their loudness to reach a place of joy as the singer was using his to express frustration. At second 11, the rest of the band, filled out by drummer Matt Barrick and alternating bassist/organists Peter Bauer and Walter Martin, started playing again. Leithauser took a breath.
The moment, contained within a tense song from The Walkmen’s 2006 album, “A Hundred Miles Off,” was rare in its anger. While the band made their name on more aggressive songs like “Little House of Savages” and “The Rat,” Tuesday’s show highlighted music from last year’s “You & Me” — their quietest work so far. That album was partly recorded at the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, Tenn., former home to the creativity of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and nearly every other major rock act of the 1950s. “You & Me” and the four or five new songs played at the show took inspiration from Orbison’s back catalogue, where the slow songs are about staying up through the night trying to convince yourself that you are better off without her and the fast songs are about knowing that you are better off.
“Thinking of a Dream I Had,” an early career track usually defined by its galloping drums and paper shredder-tuned guitar, was significantly settled down for the show; while the drumming stayed furious, the guitar hit a soft, dreamy reverb. During the band’s summer 2008 tour, Leithauser picked up his own electric guitar during the song to complement Maroon’s, but now a single guitar plays lower in the mix than the bass. In other words, it was adapted into The Walkmen’s new style.
That isn’t a knock, though. Songs from “You & Me,” like “Red Moon” and “Canadian Girl,” reached slower tempos but expressed as much regret and longing as anything that The Walkmen have ever turned up to 10. These songs, as well as a small number from “A Hundred Miles Off,” were complemented by a four-piece horn section made up of three trumpets and a trombone. One of the trumpeters was later introduced as Leithauser’s wife, and during “Red Moon,” he swayed back and forth while watching her; he was playing an acoustic guitar as she trumpeted in a dual serenade.
Last year’s relatively new material does have edge, but it appears in smaller quantities. “On The Water” opened with muffled instrumentals before taking off, as Maroon brought his guitar from wandering to immediate and one of the trumpeters went crazy on a triangle pressed against a microphone. The second song of the night, “In The New Year,” had a chorus that led the majority of the audience to sing along and revel in the optimism of lyrics like, “I don’t see the bad times and I never will,” while Leithauser’s face turned red from screaming and the fingers he was using to hold his microphone twitched wildly from their knuckles.
Though the band formed in New York City and currently splits their time between there and Philadelphia, every member grew up in D.C., and Leithauser noted at the beginning and end of the show how happy he was to play at home. During the encore, a middle-aged man made his way to the edge of the stage, called the singer’s name, and after Leithauser recognized him, shook his hand. Moments like this created a feeling that the band was giving its former hometown a present, and that a show this good could only occur in the District.
And yes, they played “The Rat” during the encore and everybody rocked out, ending the show with as much energy as when it began.
You can reach this writer at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
