No Frills Reviews

An enjoyably ragged collection that compliments the untamed charm of one of this century’s great rock voices

Hamilton Leithauser begins This Side of the Island with a casual, Dylan-esque drawl, before bursting into a strained shriek of “God, I wish you were here with me”. When he explodes into these displays of unrestrained emotion, you can’t help but feel that shit. In the tradition of Dylan himself, Leithauser may be one of the great rock singers of his generation, while also being a borderline terrible singer. His voice is kinda shrill, kinda piercing, but it’s always kinda fantastic; the power of his vocals lies in those imperfections and the ever-present potential for eruptions of desperate spontaneity. Those opening moments set the scene for a light, playful album that’s also fraught with intense emotional undercurrents.

The duality of Leithauser’s vocals is mirrored in the contrasts of his songwriting, as he alternates somewhere between downcast realist and hopeless romantic. The excellent title track exemplifies this as his early proclamation of “This side of the island is built out of trash, Our love and our city were built to collapse” soon turns to despaired cries of “I just want you to love me the way I love you”. On the title track, the island refers to Leithauser’s former adopted home of Manhattan, and, across the album, the island and the sea are recurring motifs; backdrops and metaphors for the relationships we encounter in these songs. The good times of summer nights, drinking and laughing by the beach. But also a place of isolation and regret, as on Burn the Boats.

Leithauser has spoken of struggling for around a decade to complete this collection, and there is a slightly unfinished quality here, with the theme perhaps being a little too loose as it seemingly disappears on certain tracks. The way his writing moves between vivid descriptions to moments of bold romanticism can feel slightly disconnected, and briefly touched-upon ideas surrounding the current political climate feel underdeveloped. The narrative thread from track to track is never quite clear; does the album depict the ups and downs of one relationship, or snapshots of many relationships? Are these nostalgic reflections on the past, or a mirror of the present?

Ultimately, those questions don’t really matter. There’s an intent to the looseness. What he delivers are a series of watercolour picture postcards; sketches of very specific scenes that are at the interpretative whim of their audience. Whether you see a scene of doomed lovers or marital bliss really depends on your mood at any given time.

This looseness also plays out musically. The Walkmen frontman has carved out a lane as a baroque pop crooner over his solo career, and we certainly see evidence of that here, but he largely dispenses of any formulaic restrictions, aided by production assistance from The National’s Aaron Dessner. It’s a little jazzy, a little funky, a little soulful, and there’s a rowdy return to his indie rock roots in Knockin’ Heart. Its all slightly ramshackle, but ramshackle suits him; the stylistic shifts never feel jarring, and it’s those vocals in all their erratic consistency which tie it together. With a tight 30 minute runtime, even the relative weak spots breeze by.

Straddling the tightrope between tortured and triumphant, This Side of the Island is an album that can simultaneously feel carefree and deeply consequential. Its imperfect, and Hamilton Leithauser is a master of imperfection.

Best tunes: Fist of Flowers, Knockin’ Heart, This Side of the Island

---

This Side of the Island can be purchased/ streamed here.

---

More Reviews