By the time of your fifth solo album there’s every possibility that some folks might take you for granted. Good ‘ol Hamilton Leithauser, he put The Walkmen back together, they toured, now it’s time for another one of those retro sounding do it yourself things, live from (His home studio) The Struggle Hut. Just like it always was, again.
Except. The Other Side of The Island is he says the end product of an eight year process, one during which it’s predecessor The Loves of Your Life was released and once you reach a certain age, enough time for life to start coming at you fast. To sort through it all the singer brought in Aaron Dessner, a friend since he first shared a stage with The National more than 20 years previously. The results may shake some people’s trees.
The brief was to add contemporary flecks, some funk and groovy basslines, bringing with them echoes of Talking Heads and Funkadelic amongst others. These experiments are most obvious on Burn The Boats and Fist of Flowers (Where Leithauser does a great David Byrne), but Knockin’ Heart and the titular closer are what he still does best: a scratchy, far more approachable Tom Waits. This Side of The Island doesn’t break what didn’t need fixing, and that’s change enough for now.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 
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