Hamilton Leithauser – ‘This Side of the Island’ album review: the record you’ve been waiting for

Name: Hamilton Leithauser - This Side of the Island
Rating: 5

Tom Taylor

Thu 6 March 2025 12:09, UK

Hamilton Leithauser - 'This Side of the Island'

THE SKINNY: It’s a cheesy old sentiment, but it’s true: rock ‘n’ roll can make you forget the world. These days, we seem to be bombarded by wave after wave of woe, caveating everything with an asterisk that draws attention to ‘these trying times’ in case we had forgotten for a fleeting second—as is the case with this bloody introduction. Thankfully, Hamilton Leithasuer’s latest album extends those fleeting seconds for as long as they’ll hold in a blitzkrieg of pure, adrenalised eudaimonia. So, henceforth, I shall honour its valorous intent and make no mention of the world at large.

This Side of the Island finds an artist at ease with his own craft. Leithasuer doesn’t croon in cursive font or rattle off any wry spoken word, he just belts out poetry enshrined with lived-in originality, blessed with some of the finest vocal chops in the game. It’s not just a piece of music or a collection of songs, it’s a performance—each track dramatically ebbs and flows with the whims of the story they entail.

There are blood and guts belters like ‘Knockin’ Heart’ that hark back to the same levels of ferocity he cooked up in The Walkmen with tracks like ‘The Rat’. Then, there are deeply intricate and experimental moments like ‘I Was Right’ that showcase his knack for making decidedly odd compositions come across as perfectly easy to follow. But throughout all these various movements, the album is tied together with a ‘beer by the port’ sentiment—a seaside reckoning, reflective and rapturous by turns.

This Side of the Island demands attention throughout. It washes over you like a strong coffee on a sunny Saturday morning. It carries the same sound that Black Hours first established back in 2014 into a brighter realm, with its jazz masquerading as indie rock ‘n’ roll musicality still feeling fresh and unique. Its heady whirlwind of defiant vigour is not only intoxicating, but it feels utterly vital—like the album you’ve been waiting for to grab your lapels and shake you like a secondhand Skoda rattling over a cattle grid.

It’s boldly powerful rock ‘n’ roll, and it’s beautiful—severing our psyche from the worries of the future with a rapt assegai of the present in full pomp.

For fans of: Walking the streets on a sunny day, with your headphones blaring, as though you’re strolling towards a filmic destiny as opposed to the shop for milk.

A concluding comment from a spokesperson for ‘The Ways of the Modern World’: “While we accept that This Side of the Island is good, it by no means overrides the fact that fascism is still on the rise and a factor that should occupy each waking thought.“

This Side of the Island track by track:

Release: March 7th | Producer: Aaron Dessner, Anna Stumpf and Hamilton Leithauser | Label: Glassnote

‘Fist of Flowers’: Leithauser swaggers around the track like an effortlessly competent version of Keith Richards. He captures a profound rock ‘n’ roll performance and lavishes it over a song with summery, heady Rum Diary energy. [5/5]

‘Burn the Boats’: Led by percussion, the propulsive track keeps up the invigorating pace of the album with a few doo-doo-doos thrown in for good measure. Lyrically, Leithauser gets a little more experimental, and it makes for a totally original summery anthem. [4.5/5]

‘Ocean Roar’: Horns bring a new dimension to a record that waltzes around with rum on its breath. The tenor sax still stealing the show remains Leithauser’s own prowess. In an age of ironic voices and spoken word, it’s a triumph to hear a pro belt it out with pomp. [4/5]

‘Knockin’ Heart’: On a sunny day, you can blast ‘Angela Surf City’ on your headphones and take on the world… until you encounter the bigger fellow listening to ‘Knockin’ Heart’. There have been only a handful of tracks released this century that are more adrenalising. [5/5]

‘What Do I Think?’: A trilling mandarin-like sound brings a birdsong sentiment to a song that tos and fros with the line, “What do I love now?” That feels like an honest question that reaches an exultant conclusion. [4.5/5]

‘Off the Beach’: The pace slightly slows for a more streamlined melody that moves forth with an easy amble. Yet, the vocals still offer a bit of drunken bite on top. It’s a pleasant and important change of pace for the album. [3.5/5]

‘I Was Right’: Stacatto stylings and syncopation are played around with to create a mellow track that demands as much attention as a John Bonham solo. Notes come in flurries and flourishes, while Leithauser’s love story takes on a Bob Dylan-like paradoxical mystic bluntness. [4.5/5]

‘Happy Lights’: The intro flirts with being a reggae riff, but Leithauser subverts that with his bouncing beats. Brilliant production flourishes like poised notes wavering towards a dissonant direction in their closing oscillation, giving the track a happily chaotic and frenzied feel, mirroring the drunkenness that can be borne for city lights at night. [4/5]

‘This Side of the Island’: The grand finale might just be the most profound of Leithauser’s career so far. There are questions about the countries where our lives reside and questions about what happens within those lives—and it breezes through you like fine prose. It’s perfectly constructed with cinematic reverie. [5/5]