Hamilton Leithauser and Rostam’s “A 1000 Times” Is a Song to Grow Old With

Like a few of Hamilton Leithauser’s other great songs, “A 1000 Times,” a collaborative single with Rostam Batmanglij, takes place as things are winding down. But while “In the New Year” found Leithauser gazing triumphantly toward the future and “The Rat” chronicled the bitter, desperate end of a relationship, “A 1000 Times” is too smitten to even notice its surroundings. “The 10th of November, the year’s almost over,” Leithauser sings dreamily, although it really could be any day of the year: “If I had your number, I’d call you tomorrow.”

As “A 1000 Times” evolves from a baroque, unmistakably Rostam lullaby into a blustery, Basement Tapes stomp, its instantly catchy chorus (“I had a dream that you were mine/I’ve had that dream a thousand times”) seems to have come and gone 1,000 times itself. It’s an affecting, infectious technique; the song’s shapeshifting structure elevates Leithauser’s simplistic, repetitive melody into something approaching a pop standard. As illustrated by the stars of the video, portraying Hamilton and Rostam at various ages, “A 1000 Times” is a song you can imagine growing old with.

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