Dates
March 5I believe, at some point and most likely on this site, I have extolled the virtues of the Walkmen’s song “The Rat,” from their 2004 album Bows + Arrows. While good, Bows + Arrows is not their best album. Their most recent two — 2008′s You & Me and last year’s Lisbon (recorded, in part, by Dallas’ own John Congleton) — would probably vie for that title. But “The Rat” is most assuredly (okay, fine, IN MY OPINION) the band’s best song. And a giant reason for that is drummer Matt Barrick. I guess you might have gleaned that from the title.
If I were to make a pie chart to graph the factors contributing to the over-the-top greatness of “The Rat,” Barrick’s drumming would look like Pac-Man (or Ms. Pac-Man — no gender bias here) and singer Hamilton Leithauser’s sort of annoyed, sort of desperate baying would look like a small helping of pie, like an I’m-on-a-diet-but-okay-just-this-once slice, and everything else would pretty much be a line.
