Walter Martin has remained fairly prolific as a solo artist since his band The Walkmen released their final album a decade ago—in 2020 alone, he released two solo records that balance out the innovative instrumentation of that outfit with a sound seemingly equally inspired by his more recent role as a father. While most of these tunes have had a playful energy to them, the latest single from his forthcoming album The Bear is more of a melancholy reflection on the past, specifically recalling the time he spent on tour with his old band over woozy lap steel courtesy of Sean O’Brien. “Tonight I heard that old song on the radio,” Martin sings about seemingly hearing a Walkmen track for the first time in years. “But I didn’t recognize my old friends / And I didn’t recognize myself.”
“I’d say it’s a song about feeling ill-equipped,” he notes. “Sometimes I feel like the fact that I was in a touring rock band for so much of my adulthood stunted my growth a bit. When you’re in a rock band and you don’t have children, you’re essentially a kid—well at least that was my experience, and it lasted until I was about 39. So now to find myself trying to navigate such a terrifying and broken world, it’s scary. I know it’s scary for a lot of people. It’s a pretty strange time to be alive and raising children, but I do my best.”
The near-ambient guitar on the song blends in with O’Brien’s moody lap steel to create a downcast, lonely feel. “Sean described the song as having a ‘high-lonesome’ sound,” he adds, “which seems right to me—though I’m not exactly sure what that means.”
Watch a lyric video for the track below.
