The Walkmen close in on completing new album

One mere day before their tour with padawan learners White Rabbits, fresh details on The Walkmen's upcoming record have arrived to us via Billboard.com. The website reports that the group has wrapped work on nine songs for the album, with six more tunes to go.

"We're all really pumped about it," frontman Hamilton Leithauser told Billboard. "We've written a lot of songs in the past year and really done some editing, which I think is a new move towards maturity for us."

There aren't many concrete details available about this untitled fifth record at the moment - mostly because The Walkmen are working on a new label deal to distribute the set. Still, they're shooting for a spring release. Song titles include "Around and Around," "Blue Route" and "Lost You."

Meanwhile, The Walkmen band mentorship program continues. After their White Rabbits dates, they'll take Brooklyn's (latest) great white hope, Vampire Weekend, under their tutelage for a run of spring dates.

The complete Walkmen tour rundown:

January
16 - Pittsburgh, Pa. @ Diesel *
17 - Pontiac, Mich. @ The Crofoot *
18 - Milwaukee, Wisc. @ Turner Hall *
19 - Madison, Wisc. @ High Noon *
20 - Chicago, Ill. @ Schubas *
21 - St. Louis, Mo. @ Duck Room *
22 - Columbus, Ohio @ The Basement *
23 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ Jonny Brenda's *
24 - Baltimore, Md. @ Ottobar *

February
27 - San Francisco, Calif. @ The Independent
28 - Orange County, Calif. @ Samueli Theater

March
3 - Carrboro, N.C. @ Cat's Cradle
4 - Charleston, S.C. @ The Maproom
5 - Tallahassee, Fla. @ Club Downunder (FSU)
6 - Orlando, Fla. @ The Social %
7 - South Florida Everglades, Fla. @ Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation (Langerado)
8 - St. Augustine, Fla. @ Cafe Eleven %
9 - Atlanta, Ga. @ The Earl %
10 - Birmingham, Ala. @ The Bottletree %
12 - Charlottesville, Va. @ The Satellite Ballroom