Walter Martin - We're All Young Together

Debut solo album from songwriter Walter Martin of the Walkmen

Wild and wonderful album with an all-star rock 'n' roll cast!

MP3 download included

Walter Martin of the Walkmen calls his debut solo album We're All Young Together "a family record." "I tried to fill it with warmth and humor because that's the kind of art I like — stuff that makes everyone feel welcome," he says. "To me it's a serious record disguised as a not serious record."

The album features guest appearances by Karen O and Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Matt Berninger of the National, Alec Ounsworth of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Kat Edmonson, The Walkmen's Hamilton Leithauser and Matt Barrick, and more. Just in time for Valentine's Day, Martin has released the romantic "Sing To Me" featuring Karen O. Listen at Soundcloud: http://bit.ly/1kvPkFb

Martin, multi-instrumentalist in the Walkmen, conceived of We're All Young Together around the time the Walkmen were finishing their 2012 album Heaven and his wife was pregnant with their first child. With fatherhood on the horizon, Martin felt it was time to challenge himself a bit. He had co-written songs for the band since they had formed in 2000 and now it was time to write something for himself.

"I began to imagine a record I really wanted to hear: something new and original that captured the essence of early rock 'n' roll — innocent but mischievous, romantic but funny, and unabashedly sweet," he says. "It wasn't that I wanted to write songs to suit my new situation as a parent, it was more that parenthood made relevant writing the kind of songs I've always loved most."

Among the album's subjects: the virtues of rattlesnakes ("Rattlesnakes"), the not-so-surprising similarities of siblings ("Hey Sister"), and the distinguishing features of each Beatles band member ("The Beatles (When Ringo Shook His Mop)").

Phil Ek (Built To Spill, The Shins, Fleet Foxes) mixed two of the tracks and all the record's artwork was designed by Marcellus Hall, a renowned children's book illustrator and artist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker and Time. Check out the "Sing to Me" lyric drawing on the right, and go here for a higher resolution version: http://shorefi.re/STMLyrics

1. We’re All Young Together - feat. Alec Ounsworth

2. We Like The Zoo (‘Cause We’re Animals Too) - feat. Matt Berninger

3. I-M-A-G-I-N-A-T-I-O-N - feat. Kat Edmonson

4. Rattlesnakes - feat. Karen O and Nick Zinner

5. Sing To Me - feat. Karen O

6. The Beatles (When Ringo Shook His Mop) - feat. Hamilton Leithauser, Nick Stumpf, Josh Wise, and Matt Iwanusa

7. If I Were a Tiger - feat. Martin McAlevey & Nina Dhongia

8. Costa Rica

9. Hey Sister - feat. Kat Edmonson

10. It’s a Dream

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