The Walkmen's distinctly bittersweet take on turn-of-the-century New York guitar rock is at turns blissful and brutal, a dynamic best documented on the 2004 album <i>Bows + Arrows</i> and its seething single “The Rat.” If the band has never quite recaptured the intensity of that single, it's because they've never really tried. Instead, they've stretched their sound into more comfortable directions on the wonderful records that followed, including 2010's lush <i>Lisbon</i> and this year's <i>Heaven</i>, a sentimental celebration of fatherhood and domestic comforts.
The Walkmen
Tonight @ U.S. Cellular Connection Stage, Summerfest, 8 p.m.
