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In 'The Blue Route,' it hits home like a 30th birthday--and as the standout 'In The New Year' points out, realizing "It's all over anyhow" can be invigorating, a way of readying oneself for the next, far more interesting chapter.
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The album’s majestic brilliance reveals itself through subtle perfections that appear with repeated listens.
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Intimate, intense and beautiful, You & Me demands repeat plays and the Walkmen deserve a new respect.
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The Walkmen have solidified their place among our memories.
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This variation in the songcraft amid absolute adherence to a predetermined aesthetic attests to the band’s ability to craft a well-paced, engaging arc, an album as much attuned to its coherency as it is to being a springboard for a few spectacular singles.
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FilterYou & Me has a panache that hearkens to an earlier era, acting like a rich veneer. Layers of energy, intimacy and meaning rise to the surgace to become a deeper part of you and me with each and every listen. [Fall 2008, p.91]
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You & Me isn't as hard or immediate as the band's earlier records, but that's not a complaint; Its sound is coy, and invites you to spend time with it.
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Melodic post-punk gives way to a wider sonic landscape, yielding to muted tones that dovetail comfortably with Hamilton Leithauser’s now-audible vocals.
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You & Me delves deeply into the evocative ballads that have made the band fascinating since "Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone."
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The hooks are hidden in dense atmospherics, but after a few late-night sessions, these grand, moody songs will reveal secrets worth waiting up for. [Oct 2008, p.122]
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It rewards that attention with small pleasures: guitar and organ playing off each other’s reverb, bass and drum dancing in and out of step, horns and vocals collapsing into a single bellow. In essence, it offers that luxuriant buzz that made rock and roll one of the great narcotics of the last half-century.
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Q MagazineThis fourth album is all the better for its subdued tone, mining its own strain of sozzled melancholia via underwater guitars, waltzing rhythms and lyrics steeped in wistful regret. [Nov 2008, p.123]
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It's muted, but intoxicating stuff.
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Much has been made of Leithauser's voice, which often feels choked, but on You & Me, could one imagine a more perfect instrument?
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It’s not a showy record, but one that when peeled apart reveals itself to be a darker and more engaging album than on first listen. But not only that, as it might also be the best thing they’ve ever done.
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It’s impossible to fully return all the way home again, but You & Me is the next best thing.
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[Leithauser’s] voice has filled out, like an adolescent discovering girls and his true sound at the same time. But too often on You & Me the rest of the group sounds pedestrian, cautiously still and unambitiously sticking to what they know so well.
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The album is another solid (if somewhat too long) set by a band firmly in control of where it is at and what it’s doing.
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Alternative PressYou & Me is a consolidation of strengths, intensity and pathos with enough '60s echo-chamber reverb to singe synapses. [Oct 2008, p.153]
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Under The RadarMost of these tracks should be outright downers, but the contrasts between sorrow, hope, loneliness, and independence strike just the right balance. [Fall 2008, p.85]
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The songwriting has never been stronger or more eclectic.
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This album feels firmly in the gutter, and that’s a positive for slurring Dylan-phile Hamilton Leithauser, who moans and wails throughout, ruminating about lost friends and lovers while the guitars pour reverb-drenched notes over his sepia moments.
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There’s no question that when they get it right, the Walkmen are captivating. But with songs like 'Long Time Ahead of Us' and 'New Country,' the only thing keeping your attention is Hamilton Leithauser’s slurred laments.
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Loads of echo and reverb rescue the album from this potentially fatal flaw, but overall, You & Me is a mixed bag.
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You & Me is a thoroughly Walkmen-esque album, however tautological it may be to say so.
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UncutGuitars still sound like they were recorded in an igloo, while the singer's Dylan obsession only really pays off on woozy waltz 'Red Moon,' assisted by Matt Barrick's skeletal drum accompaniment. [Nov 2008, p.128]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 59 out of 68
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Mixed: 2 out of 68
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Negative: 7 out of 68
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PatKFeb 9, 2009Awesome CD... Cannot get enough.
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SethCAug 28, 2008
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ElizabethAAug 26, 2008A melancholy trip. Love "On the Water." Completely eerie and addictive.