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Description
Hamilton Leithauser returns with *The Loves of Your Life*, his fourth solo album and a conceptually rigorous examination of the people who populate his inner circle. Each of the eleven tracks is meticulously composed around a specific individual encountered in the artist's orbit-some familiar, many strangers. This approach demands a certain vulnerability from the singer, who layers his dynamic vocals with those of his wife Anna Stumpf, their daughters Georgiana and Frederika, and even a former preschool teacher. Leithauser plays nearly all instruments on the record himself, including drums, bass, guitar, mandolin, synthesizers, and Wurlitzer, though he does collaborate with seasoned session musicians like pianist Jon Batiste and pedal steel player Jonathan Gregg.
The album's strengths lie in Leithauser's songcraft and his ability to conjure Leonard Cohen-level gravitas from his throat. Tracks like "Isabella" and "The Garbage Men" demonstrate his knack for building from minimal, hushed arrangements into full-throated choruses, a technique reminiscent of late-60s Dylan. On "Here They Come," a cinematic friend hides from reality in the darkened Union Square theater, while "Isabella" captures a Manhattan party girl staving off adulthood with endless late nights. These songs breathe the city air of Brooklyn, the former frontman's chosen stomping ground, where he has become a local celebrity.
However, the record falters when ambition outruns resolution, particularly on the back half. "Til Your Ship Comes In" experiments with discordance that never finds its tune, while "Wack Jack" builds anxiously toward an unresolved coda. The album's true triumph arrives in its closer, "The Old King"-an old-fashioned cabaret number that transforms into a celebration, then an Irish funeral for someone who isn't actually dead yet. When his family joins in for the final "Ba Da Da Da Da" refrain, it feels like the stage invasion of Paul McCartney's fans during "Hey Jude." Sweet, poignant, and undeniably memorable.
By the time the family closes out the record, one realizes Leithauser isn't aiming to be Paul or John. He wants to be great, and he can be great-but he wants his family on stage for the song. For now, he's attempting to be both Icarus and Daedalus, and in doing so, he produces something that is as much a portrait of community as it is a solo record. A flawed but fascinating document of a life lived in the neighborhood.
[All Music: [The Loves of Your Life](https://www.allmusic.com)](https://www.allmusic.com) | [Wikipedia: [The Loves of Your Life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Loves_of_Your_Life)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Loves_of_Your_Life) | [Pitchfork: Review](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/hamilton-leithauser-the-loves-of-your-life/) | [Past Prime: [Middle-aged Review](https://www.pastpri.me/home/hamilton-leithauser-the-loves-of-your-life)](https://www.pastpri.me/home/hamilton-leithauser-the-loves-of-your-life)
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