US indie legends The Walkmen are to release a new album, Lisbon, on September 14th. They’ve also released a track from it to US National Public Radio, who are streaming the track ‘Stranded’ here. While it isn’t a cover of the celebrated Saints punk classic of the same name, it is a soulful horn laced ballad.
“Early on, we had a whole batch of songs that were based on this New Orleans-style horn playing that (guitarist) Paul (Maroon) was working on,” singer Hamilton Leithauser told NPR.
“But ‘Stranded’ is the only one that actually ended up making the album. I think it was maybe the second song we wrote for Lisbon, so it sort of exemplifies our sound from maybe two years ago. I guess it sounds more like our last record, You & Me, than a lot of the other songs on Lisbon.”
“The horn section included my wife, Anna, our lead trumpeter Paul Brandenberg, and a ratty assortment of the other guys we usually tour with — mostly trumpets and maybe two trombones. We had them all into Gigantic Studios, and I sang the whole thing live right there with them and the band. It’s always fun doing a big production like that. Paul also added a bunch of his own trumpets down in Philly to give it that wobbly style, and maybe just to make sure it was completely out of tune. (Keyboardist) Walt (Martin) and I did the words together.”
