Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam - I Had A Dream That You Were Mine

Rating:

An instantly classic collection of tracks that will have you head over heels from the first second.

When Rostam Batmanglij stepped away from Vampire Weekend, there was a real sense that he was set to produce something special, but teaming up with Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen for ‘I Had A Dream That You Were Mine’, may be his greatest move yet. Delving deep into the record collections of late 70s/early 80s Americana and sprinkling it with the post-punk idealism of Leonard Cohen, the result is one of the most heartfelt and warming records of the year.

Lead single ‘A 1000 Times’ is a true campfire classic, the type of track that will be sung again and again on late-night crawls home, and that sense of collective highs and lows permeate the record. Whether it’s ‘Sick As A Dog’ and its ruptured swoon of love lost, ‘Rough Going (I Won’t Let Up)’ and its doo-wop refrains that sit effortlessly over big band joy or the long-lost Motown tear-soaked pull of ‘When The Truth Is…’, Leithauser + Rostam truly manage to capture something effortlessly pure about everyday life.

The ability to switch and morph between Louisiana blues (‘The Morning Blues’), New Jersey Springsteen heights (‘You Ain’t That Young Kid’) and Spanish flamenco moon-light howls (‘In A Black Out’) is a staggering feat, and means that ‘I Had a Dream That You Were Mine’ truly stands on its own two feet. Hamilton Leithauser sounds more at home on a record than he has done for over a decade, reminding everyone just how timeless his voice sits. An instantly classic collection of tracks that will have you head over heels from the first second, Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam have produced something special - that’s for sure. Jamie Muir