On the Record: Hamilton Leithauser – The Loves of Your Life

If this is the kind of record we can look forward to from socially-distanced artists locked away in their home studios, then the post-coronavirus world is fortunate indeed.

The Loves of Your Life was written and recorded by Hamilton Leithauser in his home studio, playing almost all the instruments, with his family doing most of the backing vocals.

With New York in lockdown, you’d be forgiven for assuming this was written a couple of weeks ago and rushed out. It wasn’t.

Instead, this was a choice. Leithauser spent three years recording in his home studio (the “Struggle Hut”), playing up to eight instruments on a single song. The end result is not perfect (Leithauser freely admits that it’s not entirely “professional sounding”), but the imperfections are part of its charm.

The album is a love letter to New York City. Vignettes centred on people Leithauser has met or is friends with. Though not a native (he was born and grew up in Washington), the album contains enough reference points to be a paean through its people to the city that never sleeps. Mentions of Amsterdam Avenue, a tunnel under Broadway and 94th Street all get mentions – but it’s never saccharine or kitschy.

The album opens with strings – presumably sampled, or at least from some software, though imagine them live – on “The Garbage Men”. The very start of the track could almost be the accompaniment to the title-card of a movie from the 50s. But it quickly snaps into clearer strings, Leithauser’s vocals immediately following. It’s a classy introduction to an album that is obviously very personal to him.

The record is written about strangers and friends – one per song. Leithauser acknowledged, on a podcast to accompany the launch of the album, that he may have to send an email or two to some pals. But there is no snide here. Even ludicrous characters, like the cinema goer in “Here They Come” are lovingly written. One of the tracks is about a man he met on a New York ferry; another, “The Stars of Tomorrow”, about a woman he and his daughters met on a park bench who gave them a jar of pickled beets before driving off.

While the music isn’t as adventurous as tracks on his 2016 joint release with Rostam Batmanglij, there are some lovely moments, like the intimacy in the first minute on “Here They Come”, with Leithauser singing quietly, close to the mic, before the track switches gear and his voice becomes familiar.

As ever, the most distinctive feature of Leithauser’s music is his voice. How he hasn’t managed to wear it out is a mystery. It’s also, in some ways, an unashamedly American album. Take “Wack Jack” – the drums locomotive-like. You can almost imagine it as a lost piece written for Johnny Cash.

Highlights include the single “Here They Come” and “The Old King”, the wistful closing track – about a “funny, sad and ridiculous friend” – swinging its way to the record’s conclusion.

And then there’s “Don’t Check the Score” – lush, beautiful, with five female backing singers, and painfully lovely. While obviously not written for this virus-addled times, includes the line:

The sun is coming up

And my heart is filled with hope

The sidewalks are empty seven stories below

Like the friends Leithauser sings about, The Loves of Your Life’s imperfections are what gives it its high personal value. It is an album that, like those friends, with time, will become a great companion. For now, it’s reminder what can be achieved even in a world of social distancing.

Track Pick: Here They Come