No one can accuse Hamilton Leithauser of rushing the creative process. The guitarist and founding member of New York City indie rockers the Walkmen spent the last eight years working on his newly released album “This Side of the Island.” It’s a project he began when former President Barack Obama was wrapping up his second term.
The creative struggle to complete the album lasted long enough for the Walkmen frontman to lead the band on a 2023 reunion tour and also release a pair of solo records in 2020, “The Loves of Your Life” and “Live! at Café Carlyle.”
Working out of his appropriately named home studio the Struggle Hut, which is in the heart of Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood, the former philosophy major is equal parts relieved and rueful that it took so long to complete “This Side of the Island.”
“A lot of those songs I wanted try to finish for that record, ‘The Loves of Your Life,’ but I just couldn’t complete them,” said Leithauser, who stops in Atlanta for a May 8 performance at Terminal West. “I finished another batch of songs I thought was a record, but these songs wouldn’t die. I couldn’t let it go.
“I just love making music and trying to find new ways to put stuff together. Having my own studio now, I really got into mixing and things I couldn’t do when I was younger while recording things in ways I think sound cool.”
While grappling with how to get his latest album across the finish line, Leithauser reconnected with Aaron Dessner, an old friend who has become a renowned producer. The duo’s relationship dates to when the latter’s band, the National, opened for the Walkmen in the early 2000s. For Leithauser, 46, reconnecting with Dessner couldn’t have come at a better time.
“You can definitely drive yourself into a spot where you don’t know which end is up and you don’t have a helping hand to tell you it’s time to stop,” Leithauser said of the album-making process. “I ran into Aaron at a music festival and was at the point where I didn’t know what I had. He invited me up to his studio to see if I wanted to come and listen, get his thoughts or whatever. We listened through to everything, and the first thing he said to me was that I was done and didn’t need him. He said he loved what I presented and thought it was completely done.”
Dessner did have some ideas, however, that Leithauser embraced. “Aaron is good at making things sound modern, and he added this modern-sounding element to it that I just didn’t have. It changed my whole perspective on the entire thing and immediately I thought that, ‘People have got to hear this,’ which is always a good sign. It was a push over the cliff I needed and was a really solid favor.”
Clocking in at a half hour, the nine tracks on “This Side of the Island” showcase some of Leithauser’s charming musical eccentricities. The meandering saxophone lines infusing the ethereal “Ocean Roar” give off whiffs of mid-’70s era David Bowie, while the vibraphone runs sprinkled throughout “What Do I Think” add a carnivallike wistfulness. Elsewhere, Leithauser’s laconic vocals and the floating guitar riffs threaded through “Off the Beach” gives this dreamscape a particularly melancholic sheen. Finally, the title track closes out the album and has a subtle buildup that rises above the detritus of a collapsed relationship. It’s accented by the yearning vulnerability of the narrator wearily pleading, “I just want you to love me,” making it an ode to anyone who’s had their heart broken.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
A huge commercial breakthrough never materialized for the Walkmen during the band’s first stint that ran through 2013 — even as acts that opened for them (ranging from Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie to the National) hit that next level of success. And while the band went on hiatus shortly after that, Leithauser has carried on as a solo act. Having the band get back together in 2023 was a pleasant surprise for him.
“When we did the Walkmen reunion, it ended up going so much better than anyone thought it would,” Leithauser said. “It went on for a lot longer than we realized. Everybody is glad to take a break again, but there is no reason to close that door. I never wanted to close the door the first time. I don’t know why we went on that break.”
With “This Side of the Island” officially out, Leithauser relishes bringing his new jams to the masses. And while he’s a veteran of sweaty rock clubs, he’s enjoyed refining his live music craft thanks to his experience playing at Café Carlyle, a legendary Manhattan supper club better known for hosting cabaret acts ranging from Bobby Short to Judy Collins. The Walkmen vocalist-guitarist, came away with a few lessons from playing the Café Carlyle shows, and he’s applying them on tour.
“I’m going to play all my new jams along with all the hits — the oldies,” he said with a grin. “I like to have a cocktail, tell loud stories and jokes, depending on how many drinks I’ve had.”
After all that time completing “This Side of the Island,” Leithauser was relieved that audiences dug all its songs when he debuted them during two early shows in Austin, Texas. “I could tell people liked them, even though this was the first time we played them. “I want to keep it small, like when I play at the Carlyle.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
Hamilton Leithauser
May 8 at Terminal West. With special guest Greg Freeman. 8 pm. $35-$40. 887 W. Marietta St. NW, Atlanta. 404-876-5566, terminalwestatl.com
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