Hamilton Leithauser - Black Hours

Dude I don't even know if this bad boy is "released" yet but the songs are blowing up everywhere, including NPR's First Listen

First, let's take a little trip back to a 2002 debut album by a little band called The Walkmen.  

"We've Been Had"

I harp on this time in music as being a big shift.  But come on. It was The Strokes. It was The Walkmen. It was Vampire Weekend. Music got cool again.  

"Canadian Girl"

No big deal. Just recording at Sun Studios in Memphis. WHATEVER.

But anyways.

Hamilton Leithauser (lead singer of The Walkmen) has supposedly been teasing his solo release for a while now, though I've only heard wind of it in the past month. Now on NPR's First Listen, you can see how much the guy has grown musically (and I hate using the word grown when referring to music).  The songs are cleaner, more focused.  A little less swagger with a little more class.  Probably something to do with having Rostam Batmanglij (See: Vampire Weekend) as a collaborator. I know Ezra Koenig gets all the play, but Batmanglij has got the guts (did you know he was in Dirty Projectors??)

Below is evidence of the clean shift Hamilton Leithauser has seemed to have made from twenties malaise to thirties optimism:

"Alexandra"

You know, for someone who has been performing as long as this guy, you think he would look a lot less awkward singing. BUT NOPE. Awkward as fuck.