Hamilton Leithauser

One Liner: Ex-Walkmen front man makes great indie rock with Ex-Vampire
Wikipedia Genre: Guitar, vocals
Spotify Says Similar To: Kevin Morby and Rostam
Home: Boston (or maybe NYC?)

Poster Position: 11
Slot: ?

Thoughts:  My initial impressions on this guy were that it sounded kind of like the Black Keys guys had hooked up with the Vampire Weekend dudes to spend some time jamming and see what they could make together.  "You Ain't That Young Kid" has some organ/harpsichord sounds that are very obvious Vampire Weekend touchstone sounds, and there are other little markers spread throughout, like the sound on "Peaceful Morning."  After reading through his Wikipedia page, I see that I was slightly off target by thinking Vampire Weekend, because this guy was the lead singer for the Walkmen, another good band (always felt like "We've Been Had" was underappreciated), but that I was totally right, because the guy who he collaborated with to make his album is Rostam Batmanglij, one of the dudes from Vampire Weekend.  Sadly, I don't see anything about Dan Auerbach dropping by the sessions to tweak the guitar tone or something.  But I still feel like I should win an award for my hearing abilities.  "I'd like to thank the little people, Jesus, and Mom..."

He's just got the one album available on Spotify, 2016's I Had a Dream that You Were Mine, which is the album made with Rostam.  Two singles from the album stick out as significantly more popular than others.  First, is the album opener, "A 1,000 Times," with 10.7 million streams.

Good, tight little indie rock song there, although it starts to feel like he is trying to say the words "a thousand times" a thousand times by the end.  Chill out on the repeat words there, man.  The second most popular track from the album is called "In a Black Out" and chalks up 6.8 million streams.

Live version, but you get the idea.  Almost like a bleak country lament that you'd hear from a classic Nashville writer, instead of hip indie tunes.  "I rent a room with all our stuff. When you come home I’d lift you up, And there’s only the two of us, In a black out.  Now you’re sleeping in the back, Of a speeding yellow cab, Throw a kiss goodbye to all of that."  That is good stuff.  Overall, I like this whole album.  It's got some interesting sounds and little tweaks that make it more than just any old indie rock album.

Recommend?  Yeah.