“We Can’t Be Beat” is the first song off of The Walkmen’s Heaven and fittingly spare and introductory. Hamilton Leithauser begins his half besotted, half morose croon with solitary guitar accompaniment. It’s a song that wouldn’t feel out of place on the credits of a Wes Anderson movie, as little eccentric parts come into the fold, dense layered vocal harmonies, a quirky picked-up rhythm, a constant cinematic sense of an unsure build-up, the potential for something great to happen, but a profound sense of not knowing when. Fortunately, that works perfectly for the album, as it picks up from there. A must buy in the albums of 2012.
We Can’t Be Beat – The Walkmen
You can grab the physical editions either from The Walkmen’s official store or their label Fat Possum.