Having experimented with different styles his solo albums The Walkman frontman rekindles passionate, raw intensity and pent-up energy alongside introspection in latest LP in part produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner. There are beach and seaside recurring images in lyrics, but this is not a lilting, relaxing album, but one of boiling emotions and heartbreak love songs, often summoned from a fictional narrator, with the singer these days happily married to Anna Stumpf who also co-produced. But Leithauser is a master of summoning emotions with his voice. Fist of Flowers about missing someone, opens with a rolling piano rhythm, funky bass, his powerful falsetto and backing vocalists. Knockin’ Heart is another highlight, a thumping, thrumming indie number with fabulously satisfying thrashy chorus led into by the verse declaratory line: “There’s no one who’s gonna need you like I do tonight!“ Burn the Boats has electric, wobbly, dizzy guitars, lovesick whoops with a big catchy R&B groove. In Off the Beach Leithauser is a slower, ocean-lapping bluesy, 70s Dylan-esque crooner opening with that narrative rich line “Eleven years since you walked the aisle.” and “Love is cheap, like a paper plate.” The second half of the album is quieter and more introspective, and completes with the rippling, organ accompanied, and rather beautifully catchy title track, Leithauser again upping the emotions and declaring: “Tonight is running right through me … I just want you to love me the way I love you.” Few singers can express intense love in such a dramatic, affecting style. Impressive. Out on Glassnote Music.
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