Albert Hammond, Jr. reviewed
Albert Hammond, Jr.
¿Cómo Te Llama?
(Black Seal/Sony BMG)
With the Drew Barrymore aftermath currently the only interesting Strokes news, Albert Hammond, Jr. releases his second solo album.
Hammond’s first album, Yours To Keep (Rough Trade), was recorded exactly as it sounded: piecemeal. Fancy friends would bop into the studio during breaks on tour, and the Strokes guitarist decided he had enough to open a Bloc Party tour.
If Yours tipped its hand a liiiiiiittle too much as to its creator’s progeny, ¿Cómo Te Llama? completely spoils that familiarity. As a guitarist, Hammond will always link to The Strokes, but this sophomore effort reveals more than abandoned ideas. Cómo might not unmask the world’s most distinguished songwriter, but his ambition has clearly outrun his normal employers’.
Opener “Feed Me Jack; How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love” can’t contain comparisons to Julian Casablancas’ School Of Angst, but makes a display of its anthemic chorus so as to divest itself. From then on it’s full-on reinvention, via closet bedroom pop of “Miss Myrtle,” walking some detectives on “Borrowed Time,” and the comfortably Midwestern power pop in “The Boss Americana.”
Hammond’s ready to leave the nest. Cómo say what.
— Steve Forstneger
