About a Turnabout: The Walkmen

IT'S BEEN A ROCKY ROAD for the five D.C.-bred guys in the Walkmen since they decamped for New York City early in the decade.

Their 2002 indie debut, "Everyone Who Pretended To Like Me Is Gone," met with a lukewarm reception. Yet their sophomore release, "Bows + Arrows," put the band's self-described "melodramatic popular songs" over the top. They were exalted by Pitchfork Media, had songs on Fox's "The O.C.," and played on "Late Show With David Letterman."

The band's way with melody was obvious, and singer Hamilton Leithauser could definitely get a song across. Still, success was fleeting.

"Our second record probably did the best of all our records," admits bassist Peter Bauer. "The last one, not so much."

That album, "Hundred Miles Off," was recorded during a period of turmoil, when the band had to leave its Harlem studio because Columbia University bought the building and booted them out. They relocated for a while to the upstate studio of fellow D.C.-to-N.Y.C. transplants the French Kicks, but felt uninspired.

Inspiration did kick in for the just-released "You and Me," which brims with their trademark angst and passion. The first two nights of the Walkmen's tour sold out. Plus, they got a good response, Bauer says, when they pre-released the CD on Amiestreet.com and donated the proceeds to cancer research (as a tribute to a friend's ailing baby).

It's now looking like the band may have its day in the sun. Again.

"Things are going possibly as well as we can hope for them to go," says Bauer, who graduated from the Maret School (the others went to St. Albans). "A lot of people have been reviewing the record very well."

» HOW DOES "You & Me" sound? Read Express contributor Afton Lorraine Woodward's review to find out.

» 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW; with Golem, Sat., 6:30 p.m., $15; 800-955-5566. (U St.-Cardozo)

Written by Express contributor Tony Sclafani
Photo by Andrew Palermo