Back in March, Hamilton Leithauser introduced us to his new album, The Loves of Your Life, with the lead single “Isabella”. Now, half a year later, the former Walkmen frontman has delivered a new version of the track, this time featuring Lucy Dacus.
Originally, “Isabella” was built of a plucky piano and swaying pedal steel, giving it a breezy country-pop feel. This new take started as a simple guitar groove Leithauser was toying with in his home studio, The Struggle Hut. Realizing it fit “Isabella”, he decided to record “a whole new version” of the single. “I guess this amounts to the kind of evolving a new song goes through after a few months on tour… but without the tour,” he said in a press release.
A female vocalist also appears on the album version of the song, but for this remake, Leithauser thought of Dacus. Turns out he reached out to his old tour mate at just the right time. “Hamilton hit me up about singing on the song in June when I was in a bleak spot,” Dacus explained. “Working on it really got me out of a funk and let me have some fun.”
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Take a listen to Leithauser and Dacus’ “Isabella”, as well as the original single, below.
