Twelve years after their formation, the East Coast five-piece have created their finest album to date. The Phil Ek-produced ‘Heaven’ is an epic maelstrom of world-weary hope set amid Paul Maroon’s chiming Rickenbacker and Hamilton Leithauser’s deeply affecting vocal. Great songs jostle for attention; opener ‘We Can’t Be Beat’ is a spine-tingling anthem for the lovelorn and ‘Heartbreaker’ a stunning slab of American-spangled jangle. Tour buddy Robin Pecknold plays second harmony to Leithauser on the barbershop doo-wop of the sublime ‘No One Ever Sleeps’, while the title track pulses and strains like early REM. ‘Heaven’, it would appear, has its very own soundtrack.
8/10
Words by JOHN FREEMAN
