Lisbon

Despite their roots on the scrappy New York post-punk-revival scene of the early 2000s, the Walkmen's sweeping visions often imply wide-open spaces, or at least the skyscraper diaspora as the Grand Canyon. On Lisbon's opening track, "Juveniles," singer Hamilton Leithauser proclaims, "The country air is good for me," over a loping drum bash and elegiac bluesy-U2 guitar. "Angela Surf City" and "Woe Is Me" are similarly expansive rockers, and there's a touch of down-home Rod Stewart in Leithauser's grungy crooning. Yet sometimes the Walkmen's anthemic naturalism wanders without much direction ("While I Shovel the Snow" is about as much fun as, well, shoveling snow), and their echo-laden illuminations are at times all sky and no solid ground.