Albert Hammond Jr, Yours to Keep
“Goodnight, I say to you: goodnight” begins Albert Hammond Jr’s first solo record, sounding ever so slightly like The Sound of Music’s ‘So Long, Farewell’. It’s a slightly disingenuous beginning, because the second song, ‘In Transit’, immediately returns to more familiar territory for the Strokes’ guitarist. Although his vocals never manage to be quite as laid back or half-arsed as Julian Casablancas’, Hammond is definitely in the region of the musical map labelled ‘Strokes album tracks’.
It’s not bad place to be; tales of boys and girls lost in New York City have been a staple rock subject matter ever since Lou Reed first put a needle in his arm.
As it turns out, the album is split roughly evenly between more gentle tunes, and those that would not sound out of place on a Strokes LP, which stand in the corner of the record and sneer at the other, more exuberant songs - self consciously cool but slightly awkward.
Ultimately, it seems, this album is an excuse to put out some ideas that would not have worked within the context of the Strokes, and some others that weren’t good enough for the former biggest indie band in the world.
Out this week
