CD of The Week

Hamilton Leithauser - This Side of the Island (Glassnote)

Fans of Hamilton Leithauser’s work as frontman of The Walkmen may have slowly backed away from the artist based on his last two quieter, folky albums. However, with This Side of the Island, Leithauser has crafted a selection of tracks that tie those worlds together.

Although the album’s nine tracks clock in just shy of 30 minutes, it has not been a quick process. The record comes five years after The Loves of Your Life, but as Leithauser told the New York Times, it is a project that began back in 2016-2017: “The piano and the guitar from the first song on the record [“Fist of Flowers”], I literally recorded the actual tracks when Barack Obama was president of the United States.” This Side of the Island is layered with punchy hooks, sentimental passion, Leithauser’s uniquely emotional vocals and an overarching oceanic/love theme.

The straightforward rocking “Knockin’ Heart” and album opening bouncy stomper “Fist of Flowers” are the catchy powerhouses here, singing about love just out of reach, Infatuation, and longing. “Fist of Flowers” rolls along with a variety of emotional bursts like an emo Bob Dylan, walking down by the sea while blurting “I wish you were here with me.” And “Knockin’ Heart” boldly explains how his love has strengthened through a poetic list of evolutionary paradigms: “From the bleachers, to the spotlight / From the factory, to thе junkyard.”

The nautical themes run deeper than just the titles: Leithauser uses the uncertainty of the sea as a metaphor for the high and low tides of relationships. In “Burn the Boats,” Leithauser acknowledges the bridges he’s burned while falling in love, but that love is the only thing that can bring him home. “Ocean Roar,” complete with jazzy sax, remembers a different kind of love lost: that of a friend who’s changed into someone unrecognizable. “Off the Beach” sounds like it’s piped in direct from Hawaii with a slow tropical strum, and waxes nostalgic of the good times from a marriage on the rocks.  And the beautiful, moody tearjerker “This Side of the Island” sings of how parallel instability runs through both Manhattan and Leithauser’s relationship, while hammering home a frustrated "I just want you to love me the way I love you."

Taken as read, the album is an emotional, private rock bottom, but we’ve known Leithauser to enjoy character studies in the past. These sketches are more about gripping storytelling than diary confessions. After all, the album was co-produced by his wife, Anna Strumpf, (as well as The National’s Aaron Dessner).  Strumpf also contributes keyboards and backing vocals in his band, plus they host a podcast together. Nothing even close to the seemingly ultra-personal lyrics from the eponymous, heart-wrenching track: “Hammy, I’m going out now / And I’m not coming back.”
Review by Shepard Ritzen