The Walkmen are back at the recording thing again. They’ve apparently recorded 15 songs and might just finish the thing by November. In customary Walkmen style, they’ve been road-testing the new batch of songs. It’s never a good idea to get too excited about these new ones. As we know from past experience, the end products of these new live songs are certainly subject to change. At any rate, big fans over at the Walkmen Forum (accessible through here) are buzzing about the new songs. I believe you can still download their Austin City Limits set (new songs included, of course) in one of those threads. So how exactly are the new songs? See for yourself, but I will say they are over the place. We’ve got something that wouldn’t be exactly out of place on Lisbon tentatively [on the internet, anyway] titled “In The House You Made”. It’s a stripped down, fairly slow one, with a very strong finish! Another is “Love You Love,” which is heavier, but can’t quite say I’m much of a fan of it. Back to the basics with “Southern Heart,” just good ole electric guitar. “I’m Not Your Heartbreaker” is where it’s at. Sounds at first like some quasi-Bows and Arrows shizzle and has one of the catchiest choruses we’ve heard since You & Me. Finally there’s “Radio City,” which is a pretty funny song. It reminds me of The Recoys. Ham’s vocal delivery is as spirited as it was back in the ole ‘garage’ ’98 days… “Song of the Paper Dolls” kind of thing. Well anyway, I look forward to hearing more news come out about this album.