Albert Hammond Jr.- AHJ

The third musical release and first EP from The Strokes rhythm guitarist, Albert Hammond Jr., features his best compilation of songs yet, showcasing his signature lighthearted guitar work and airy vocals. Hammond Jr. releases AHJ on friend and fellow band mate Julian Casablancas’ Cult Records, with Casablancas giving the songs on AHJ his stamp of approval, saying “It’s his best work yet.” After a listen or two and surely many will agree, as this EP displays his most well crafted songs to date.

Starting with the excellent “St Justice,” Hammond Jr. harmonizes three guitars to form one singular sound. Upon digging slightly further, one can hear that actually all three are playing nearly identical notes, albeit at a slightly different time. It’s really cool how similar yet distinguishable all of the guitars are on this song. The bleeps and blips the guitars produce form a great melody over which Hammond sings “I’m beginning to feel you don’t know what you do/it’s impossibly true that emotions get lost on you.” “St Justice” is a sensational pop song that begs to be heard with the extremely catchy melodies and chorus that it boasts.

“Strange Tidings” is complete with a solid strumming guitar line that is very well complemented by the stabbing guitar riff from Hammond Jr. himself. The up tempo, tattering drums with minimal cymbal round out the sound to form another light, poppy song that evolves as the song progresses. Hammond Jr. rips off a solo about halfway through that is right in line with the rhythm guitar from earlier in the track. Things seamlessly flow back into the chorus with a cymbal crash and Hammond Jr.’s vocal line of “Watch, what you say/If I’m guilty, I will pay.” For listeners of his earlier music, it is reminiscent of Yours to Keep, his underrated debut LP that was very accessible and pop centric. After the strength of the first two songs on AHJ, one might expect the following three tracks to follow suit; however, this album loses a little steam after the strong beginning.

That ever so slight downswing begins with “Rude Customer,” a fine song in its own right, but one that is somewhat out of place when compared with the first two songs. Track number 3 sees Hammond Jr. enter a weird, Radiohead like territory on the verse and chorus. It’s unlike anything he’s done before, but that’s not the reason it isn’t up to par. Despite featuring the most “Strokes-like” sequence of guitar chords found on any of these songs, the opening drum beat and guitar tones don’t really mesh, and it’s somewhat startling when heard with headphones upon first listen. It does improve upon repeated listens; however, the initial impression is alarming to say the least. It’s the really poor choice of tone that hampers this track most, as well as the general frantic and unhinged instrumentation that occurs during the chorus. It’s slightly too busy, and the bass and rhythm guitars don’t quite line up. It also owns a weird, off-kilter time signature, especially with the drums being what they are in that section: quick, frantic, and hurried. There is a really nice part where everything cuts out to leave just bass and drums that sounds quite good, as well as the best and most ferocious guitar solo that the album has in its arsenal. However, the odd nature of the rest of the song somewhat diminishes the brilliance of the aforementioned sections.

The fourth song “Cooker Ship” begins with a semi-rapping Hammond Jr. who spits his lines over some very ambient guitar picking and tapping drums, but his vocals quickly change into a high pitched, curdling scream. The bridge section is nice, but the really weird, rapid fire vocal style from Hammond Jr. on this song isn’t close his best decision musically. The scratching and clawing guitars battle one another, and although his desired effect of “aggressive and pretty” is accomplished, it just doesn’t sound that great when combined with the vocals. By no means a poor song, it’s definitely worth a listen.

The final song, “Carnal Cruise,” is barely worth that. It has a chorus that really clashes and sounds too chaotic for enough enjoyment to be had with it to consider it a success. Easily the worst song on the album, it’s not hard to see how this was left off the EP and was only available if you ordered through Cult Records. It’s a loud song with parts that never quite sync up or make much sense musically to the listener. Oddly enough, Albert picked this song to make a video for, as well as St. Justice, although the latter is expected due to its excellence. Do yourself a favor, skip the last song and enjoy the previous 4, as there is surely something there for fans of guitar driven pop. All in all, this an EP with a definite musical theme and tone tying it together, and minus the verses and chorus of “Rude Customer” most all of it sounds like it should definitely be together on an album. The previously mentioned strengths makes AHJ a more than worthy entry into his catalog, and will treat listeners and fans both new and old.

Overall--75