Hamilton Leithauser appeared on The Strombo Show in honor of his 2016 collaboration with Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij titled I Had A Dream That You Were Mine. Leithauser performed two tracks from the album (“In A Black Out” and “The Bride’s Dad”) in addition to a cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Came So Far For Beauty.” In a short interview, Strombo talked to Leithauser about his musical influences, among whom Cohen featured notably. Leithauser explained:

When I was 14 years old, I found the cassette tape that my dad had of The Best Of Leonard Cohen and that was the first time that I really connected with what felt like a guy in a room with a guitar. Top 40 radio, I probably listened to a lot. For some reason, the quiet calm way that he did “Susanne” – probably the first song that I got into. That has always been something that stayed with me as something to aspire to… Its deceptively, sounds so simple that it is easy, but you learn as you try to do it – it is not…

Listen to Leithauser’s cover of “Came So Far For Beauty” here at the 40:15 mark.