you & me

The Walkmen found their comfort zone with the intimate and intense unfolding of this tortured travelogue.  During the whirlwind of touring and activity that followed their leap to Warner Bros.' Record Collection label for 'Bows + Arrows', the band appeared on the television show 'The O.C.' and collectively wrote a novel together, 'John's Journey'.  'A Hundred Miles Off' followed and then a cover of the entire 'Pussy Cats' album by Harry Nilsson and John Lennon.  They were forced to close down their own Marcata studio when the building was purchased by Colombia University and began recording their new album 'You & Me' in various studios.  The sessions were recorded by Chris Zane at Gigantic Studios, Manhattan; Paul Maroon at Brutalis Studios, Philadelphia; and John Agnello at Water Music, Hoboken and Sweet Tea Studios, Oxford, Mississippi featuring Hamilton Leithauser on vocals and guitar; Paul Maroon on guitar and piano; Walter Martin on organ and bass; Peter Bauer on bass and organ; and Matt Barrick on drums.  

 Leithauser reveals:    "The title was the last thing we came up with. But it definitely added something to the finished product. We all felt it really fit the vibe, both in terms of the music and the lyrics, that we had been going for. It wasn't something that was planned from the outset or while we were recording the album. And I wouldn't say that there is a specific 'you' or a specific 'me'. The title just summed things up nicely and concisely... We spent a lot of time coming up with the pacing for the record. That was really important to us this time around. We've had a number of reasons why we've sequenced albums in certain ways, and we've made big decisions on that front that were both good and bad. We wanted to make sure that the pacing-- and the number of songs-- really added something to the record. For a long time we had about 10 or 11 songs done-- we could have released it in that form. But it just didn't seem right. So we did a bunch more; I think we did about seven more songs, and we didn't end up using all of them. But we did use some of them. And only when we got to about 15 or 16 songs, we began to feel that we could construct a good record out of the material. And then we tried about 20 or 25 different orders for the songs we wanted to put on the album. We did some eight-song versions, some 12-song versions, in all sorts of orders. In the end, we sort of took the kitchen-sink approach with 14 songs, and the pacing was important to let people know that it was going to be a big, long record. It's a record that really needs the listener to settle in and relax...It was important that the record stand out as a whole album. There's not really a single... and I think pacing it slowly emphasizes that it's meant to be listened to in its own entity.  And another thing that I'm really happy about is that, in the mastering, we didn't just blast everything out, you know? It's the quietest of our records, by a long shot...You're always trying to find new stuff and new inspiration. If you don't really push and you don't try something that feels exciting, then it's not worth doing. And in terms of the new record, there was a lot of talk right from the beginning of trying to do some calypso-sounding songs, and we had a few songs that were based on these calypso-like riffs, and they were really exciting for a while. And while those songs really didn't pan out, that was sort of our jumping-off point. The other thing that really got us going was when Paul started playing the trumpet and the viola. He started dressing up our recordings with his horns and it started sounding really, really good."

'You & Me' was initially made available as a digital download on the Amie Street music site for five dollars with the proceeds going to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.  The album went to number twenty-nine on Billboard's Top Digital Albums chart in its first week of sales.  






http://thewalkmen.com/










"On the Water" – 3:10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NkBFwGvh2I





"Postcards from Tiny Islands" – 4:04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1eOkxRq30A



"Red Moon" – 4:02
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ORs_GFdfcE



"Canadian Girl" – 4:05
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPdfZlm4d-c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWoKoorqL2k




"Four Provinces" – 4:02
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SHnuAgPgxU




"The Blue Route" – 4:26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3wjTaaWB9c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j76CZBbLFak



"New Country" – 3:44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSwcNqatwPY



"I Lost You" – 3:32
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKRKppEJbLs




"If Only It Were True" – 3:07
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVk6tL4HsGc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFVpcj130j8







'You & Me' 
full album:





"Dónde está la playa" – 3:55
"Flamingos" (for Colbert) – 1:11
"On the Water" – 3:10
"In the New Year" – 4:22
"Seven Years of Holidays" (for Stretch) – 3:40
"Postcards from Tiny Islands" – 4:04
"Red Moon" – 4:02
"Canadian Girl" – 4:05
"Four Provinces" – 4:02
"Long Time Ahead of Us" – 3:47
"The Blue Route" – 4:26
"New Country" – 3:44
"I Lost You" – 3:32
"If Only It Were True" – 3:07