It's Gonna Be A Good Year

I liked the American indie band the Walkmen an awful lot, and when they stopped recording music together at the end of 2013 I was seriously disappointed. Their singer Hamilton Leithauser has made some lovely solo stuff since (as has the rest of the band), but to my ear nothing quite matches the power of their collective efforts. The song here, a favourite, is from their 2008 album, You and Me. The way, a minute in, Leithauser proclaims “I know that it’s true / It’s gonna be a good year” is, at this particular moment - early in January 2022 and a couple of years deep into this most unholy of shitshows - really very moving. And hours later, still playing it (again and again) in the dark with the snow shifting gears outside, I’m determined to believe it’s true.

Rather than the album version, the video here is of a 2012 performance at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC.