The Walkmen at Lee's Palace; Friday July 25, 2009.

The Walkmen at Lee's Palace; Friday July 25, 2009

I don't understand why the Walkmen aren't bigger than they are. They should be up there with Kings of Leon, or bands that have independent potential but burst through the seams of popular music. They tried to with their guest gig on the OC four years back, maybe more. They did really well, they even made a soundtrack.

The lead singer has a distinct voice. He has a controllable scream over a sing, but it definitely works. It jives nicely with the dynamic guitar work. The guitarist really blew me away - crisp guitar lines, fooling to the point where one would think that it was a piano or synthesizer (see "Canadian Girl).

I went alone to this gig, and I sort of figured I would leave a little early to get a bit more sleep. They went on super late, probably close to 11:30pm! But by the second song they really pulled me in... The chiming guitar strums in their biggest tune off the album 'You & Me' called "The New Year". It really got me going, I was completely into it. I was listening to Stuart McLean's Vinyl Cafe and he mentioned that feeling at shows when you lose all your inhibitions. Not to the point where you are disrespecting everyone around you, but to the point where you can really feel something. The point where you don't care about how you look or sound. I sort of felt like that. McLean described it as the "Music taking over".

I really couldn't believe how much energy the lead singer put into the second song. This band works hard and they are great at what they do. Pitchfork's all over them, and so am I.