The Walkmen’s Hamilton Leithauser shares solo single ‘This Side Of The Island’, announces intimate London and US shows

nme.com:

The Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser has shared a new solo single ‘This Side Of The Island’, and announced a run of intimate live shows.The anthemic track serves as the first preview of the singer-songwriter’s upcoming EP, which is expected to arrive at some point next year.Co-produced by Leithauser, Aaron Dessner (The National) and his wife Anna Stumpf, the reflective and bittersweet song showcases the artist’s “unrelenting optimism and biting humour amongst a polarised social and political world”.“This Side Of The Island’ is a song about disillusionment, acceptance and resolve,” he explained.“The foundation of the far lower east side of Manhattan where I used to live was actually constructed out of garbage from the 1600s all the way up to the 1970s – a decent metaphor for the fundamentally-flawed relationship I was in when I lived there; and more broadly, for the modern collective identity of the United States.”Leithauser continued: “In the last decade, I think our country has more publicly and flagrantly revealed its true colours – an ugly side that was always there, but has now transformed our mainstream character.

But there are still great people, great ideas, and great accomplishments all around us, and it is important not to lose sight of that.“Sometimes when I see what I consider to be things barrelling in the wrong direction, I feel totally helpless.

But I am an optimist, and while I might not have any grand solutions (yet!), no matter what happens, as long as I’m breathing, I can still sing ‘I just want you to love me the way I love you‘.

I don’t know if that’s a lot or a little, but I do know it’s true.”Listen to ‘This Side Of The Island’ above.Leithauser, whose latest solo album ‘The Loves Of Your Life’.