Since the dissolution of The Walkmen, their unmistakably gravelly voiced singer, Hamilton Leithauser, has certainly been no slouch in keeping his music career going. In 2014 he released his first solo album Black Hours, which he followed up with his excellent Rostam collaboration album I Had A Dream That You Were Mine in 2016 – and now he seems like he’s preparing for another collection of songs not too far away.
In his solo releases so far he has shown his penchant for collaborations, and his new track ‘Heartstruck (Wild Hunger)‘ pairs him up with one of his most exciting partners yet in Angel Olsen. Leithauser says the song is “about catching yourself off guard when an emotion hits a little harder than you were ready for. It’s a desperate and funny situation. The desperation can be a little bit ridiculous, which can be a little bit funny, but it’s also desperate, so it’s agonizing.” He also adds that he thought the song “should be delivered with huge passion and energy, and I needed a fierce and booming voice as a counterbalance. Luckily, I got my first choice: Angel Olsen.”
And Angel does a fabulous job, matching Hamilton emotion-for-emotion, lung-bursting ejection for lung-bursting ejection, making ‘Heartstruck (Wild Hunger)‘ into an impactful and poignant ballad. Listen below.
More music from Hamilton Leithauser will hopefully be announced soon, while Angel Olsen is on the cusp of releasing Phases, a collection of outtakes and rarities that is coming out on 10th November.
