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TommyWhitty writes:

3of 5 Stars

I like to sing badly in my car in a very passionate and animated way. In 2004, an Australian national broadcaster started playing this song called ‘The Rat’ by this new band, ‘The Walkmen’. The classic lyric “you’ve got a nerve to be asking a favour” struck a chord and after a few plays, I found myself screaming away at red lights, with my girlfriend burying her head in her hands as people in the car next to us no doubt laughed their asses off. Sadly, few songs on ‘A Hundred Miles Off’ could get me making a fool of myself like that again.

‘A Hundred Miles Off’ opens with the first single from the album, ‘Louisiana’. It’s a sunny-sombre little ditty, coloured with reverbed guitars and gentle piano. Hamilton Leithauser’s gritty vocal sits comfortably above it all, wailing away until a left-of-field horn section enters the mix for a cheesy outro. Not a brilliant start, but not terrible either.

Thing’s redeem themselves a bit with ‘Danny’s At the Wedding’ only in the sense that cheesy horns are this time absent. The song is progressive, without going anywhere, and while it is exciting anticipating when the band will unleash the same passion that ‘The Rat’ instilled in me, the song resolves with an anti-climatic finish. Rinse and repeat for ‘Good For You Is Good For Me’.

Things pick up a bit with ‘Emma, Get Me a Lemon’. The song has a Kings Of Leon feel to it, with great simplistic lyrics like “Emma, get me a lemon, and if there are none, get me a lime, and if we got none, go out and get some”. If ‘Emma’ is anything like my girlfriend, old Hamilton Leithauser’s testicles took a beating after barking those orders. Still, credit to him for making demands in key.

‘All Hands and the Cook’ is a darker tune, still directed by tube-driven guitars and organs, but again the drums are stripped away and replaced with light percussion. It’s the rock n’ roll equivalent of a Mulder and Scully relationship. You’re waiting for them to get it on but inevitably nothing happens and you move on to the next track hoping this one will be the one where Scully takes her top off.

‘Lost In Boston’ finally delivers, and I feel like having a cigarette. The band is in full rocking force (albeit it after a bit of an intro), and moments of Blur and early Oasis reveal themselves. The lyrics are nothing to write home about, but it's rock n' roll, so who cares?

The rest of ‘A Hundred Miles Off’ teeters on the edge, occasionally providing rocking moments that The Walkmen create so well, but mainly offering more indulgent tubey guitar riffs and repetitive wailing.

‘A Hundred Miles Off’ is ok, but nothing to send Emma out to get. The band can create some really exciting music, and I’ll still get their next album. But this time around, sadly it’s less ‘hit’ and more ‘miss’.

Oct 15, 2007 20:10:14