{"id":1675,"date":"2014-07-07T10:53:25","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T14:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/?p=1675"},"modified":"2014-07-14T12:38:19","modified_gmt":"2014-07-14T16:38:19","slug":"hamilton-leithauser-black-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/hamilton-leithauser-black-hours\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamilton Leithauser <br>Black Hours"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/hamilton_leithauser-black_hours.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1676\" src=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/hamilton_leithauser-black_hours.jpg\" alt=\"Hamilton Leithauser, Black Hours\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/hamilton_leithauser-black_hours.jpg 250w, https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/hamilton_leithauser-black_hours-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a>I do miss The Walkmen. They were one of my favorite live acts, getting better and better all the time, and their records arrived with a comforting regularity. So I was truly disturbed by the announcement of their hiatus. I can only hope it\u2019s short. Maybe they\u2019ve just got to get some stuff out of their systems. Three of the five Walkmen have recently released solo records, and two of them sound very little like their collaborative efforts. One of those includes a field recordings collage, and the other is designed for pure pleasure. <i>Black Hours<\/i> (Ribbon Music) is neither of those. I would not have predicted that singer Hamilton Leithauser\u2019s solo release would demonstrate the most fidelity to his home-team. Maybe because of the A-list designated hitters he brought in, or maybe because the first single, \u201cAlexandria,\u201d just sounds like the answer to, \u201cWhat if that dude from the Walkmen fronted Vampire Weekend?\u201d but I suppose I expected the record to be a series of put-ons (Leithauser as frontman for Fleet Foxes, Dirty Projectors, The Shins, etc, etc.) But it wasn\u2019t to be.<\/p>\n<p>The album\u2019s cover and first track, \u201c5 AM,\u201d would have you believe that his real goal is a throwback, some old blue eyes crooning and crying. Look at those song titles: \u201cThe Silent Orchestra,\u201d \u201cSelf Pity,\u201d \u201c11 O\u2019Clock Friday Night.\u201c I immediately thought of Sinatra&#8217;s mid-50s trilogy of torch songs for the brokenhearted (<i>Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely<\/i>, <i>In the Wee Small Hours<\/i>, and\u00a0<i>Where Are You?<\/i>). But that wasn\u2019t to be, either. The late-night vibe does make more appearances, on \u201cSt. Mary\u2019s County,\u201d \u201cBless Your Heart,\u201d and the shoop-be-doo-wop end of \u201cI Retired.\u201d But even then, Leithauser hardly strays from the signature sounds of his band. Does that just mean they\u2019re his sounds, which he brings to the group\u2019s efforts?<\/p>\n<p>While nothing on <i>Black Hours<\/i> would sound out of place on The Walkmen\u2019s <i>You &amp; Me<\/i> or <i>A Hundred Miles Off<\/i>, those albums came out more than five years ago. What makes this fall short of the band\u2019s work is not the sound, but the lack of surprises. The Walkmen as a group are always moving on, always trying new things, always confident in their abilities\u2014sometimes to the consternation of their loyal following. <i>Black Hours<\/i> is sure to put smiles on the faces of a lot those fans, but they won\u2019t be sated for long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I do miss The Walkmen. They were one of my favorite live acts, getting better and better all the time, and their records arrived with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[34,418,716,717],"class_list":["post-1675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-hamilton-leithauser","tag-ribbon-music","tag-the-walkmen"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hamilton Leithauser Black Hours - The Agit Reader<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/hamilton-leithauser-black-hours\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hamilton Leithauser Black Hours - The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I do miss The Walkmen. They were one of my favorite live acts, getting better and better all the time, and their records arrived with\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/hamilton-leithauser-black-hours\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Agit Reader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheAgitReader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-07T14:53:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-14T16:38:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/hamilton_leithauser-black_hours.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matt Slaybaugh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@agitreader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matt Slaybaugh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/hamilton-leithauser-black-hours\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/hamilton-leithauser-black-hours\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Matt Slaybaugh\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#\/schema\/person\/69dcefd1eff3e1b280d984cf4ec4e568\"},\"headline\":\"Hamilton Leithauser Black Hours\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-07T14:53:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-14T16:38:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/hamilton-leithauser-black-hours\/\"},\"wordCount\":419,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/hamilton-leithauser-black-hours\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/hamilton_leithauser-black_hours.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Album Review\",\"Hamilton Leithauser\",\"Ribbon Music\",\"The Walkmen\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Album Reviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/hamilton-leithauser-black-hours\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/hamilton-leithauser-black-hours\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/hamilton-leithauser-black-hours\/\",\"name\":\"Hamilton Leithauser Black Hours - 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