117: Hamilton Leithauser - This Side of the Island

So much of the music that Hamilton Leithauser has released via his band, The Walkmen, tends to come alive, or find a greater sense of spirit at this time of the year. Shuffling through city streets, fists stuffed in pockets, the wind ripping through your bones.

Apt, then, that Leithauser has today shared a brand new song, a solo effort called This Side of the Island that he made alongside his wife Anna Stumpf and The National's Aaron Dessner. The track is said to be released from a forthcoming solo EP, of which there are scant details at this point in time.

Rousing in its peaks, tender and gently considered in the space around it, where his rapturous voice leaves the music wandering on, it's a slightly haunted, somewhat woozy version of what's come before and it feels ripe for the world as he finds it on the cusp of 2025.

Hamilton has described the song as being about “disillusionment, acceptance and resolve." Further adding: "The foundation of the far lower east side of Manhattan where I used to live was actually constructed out of garbage from the 1600s all the way up to the 1970s – a decent metaphor for the fundamentally-flawed relationship I was in when I lived there; and more broadly, for the modern collective identity of the United States.”

Alongside the new track are a handful of live dates for early next year, including a solitary UK show in London on Feb 17th.

Check out the song below / via YouTube here.

~

three / six / five is a daily music-sharing project from gold flake paint; read more about the idea here

If you enjoy this content please consider a paid subscription ~ or buy GFP a cup of coffee via ko-fi

E m b r a c e
S i n c e r i t y