Hamilton Leithauser

Best known as the frontman for the Walkmen, Hamilton Leithauser embarked on a solo career once that band went on hiatus following its 2011 album Heaven. Leithauser assembled a crack team of supporting musicians to work on his new material, including Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij, Fleet Foxes' Morgan Henderson, the Shins' Richard Swift, Dirty Projectors' Amber Coffman, and his Walkmen bandmate Paul Maroon. Recorded at Los Angeles' Vox Studios, Leithauser's debut album Black Hours — which was inspired by Frank Sinatra's music and prefaced by the single "Alexandra" — was released in May 2014. Leithauser reteamed with Batmanglij for 2016's I Had a Dream That You Were Mine. Recorded at Batmanglij's home studio in Los Angeles, the pair borrowed the best of their previous bands as well as '50s and '60s rock and soul with postmodern abandon. ~ Heather Phares