2023-06-27 14:19:42
We are not talking here about the son of Rainier de Monaco, but about a much more gifted guitarist heir: Albert Hammond Jr. Who released a melancholy and uneven album that resembles him.
It is always a little pathetic to follow the careers of the best athletes. After the recklessness of the beginnings, the first bursts of brilliance and confirmation at the highest level, inexorably comes the hour of decline – defeats, injuries, weight gain. Here is the phoenix of yesterday reincarnated as a trainer or a consultant, graying and paunchy. In tennis, the old glories continue to push the ball in legendary tournaments. The grace was ephemeral, planned obsolescence spares no one, and what is true in the world of sport is also true in that of music, where charisma and inspiration are just as quick to make their way. Francis Scott Fitzgerald said there is no second act in the life of an American. Can Albert Hammond Jr., 43, make the depressive writer who died at 44 lie?
From 2001 to 2006, the young Albert experienced a golden age: with the Strokes, he pulled off three thundering records and entered rock history. Not satisfied with being the guitarist of the classiest band in New York (and on the planet), he also recorded a sublime solo album, Yours to Keep, where you can feel a cracked man behind his fitted clothes. In 2008, he did it again with ¿Cómo Te Llama?, which still contained two peaks (“You Won’t Be Fooled By This” and “Feed Me Jack”).
WHAT TO DO AFTER THAT?
Albert, 29, enters rehab – we learn that this sweet dreamer suffers from a triple addiction to heroin, cocaine and ketamine. Following this tough descent, Hammond Jr. never really recovered. Sober and thin, he created suits and ties. He launched a sparkling drink on the market. He got married and had a child. Returning to service with the Strokes, he released three excellent albums with them – they are currently recording a new one with Rick Rubin. Solo, two other albums on the clock, Momentary Masters (2015) and Francis Trouble (2018). There are always good times, even great ones, but we have to recognize that the flame has been lost. Melodies On Hiatus leaves us a little on our hunger. With this double album produced by his faithful Gus Oberg, we thought that Albert might hold his masterpiece. The first single kept us in this hope, or this illusion. On arrival, there are two excellent songs (“Libertude” and “False Alarm”) and a few moments of grace. We would cry genius for any person, but from Hammond Jr. we expect better.
HIS PROBLEM ?
He will always suffer from the comparison with Julian Casablancas, of which he has neither the voice nor the aura. While King Casablancas ends the Daft Punk adventure in majesty by vocalizing their unreleased “Infinity Repeating”, Prince Albert here looks like a second knife. Without the iconic strength of the Strokes around him, he remains on a human level, sincere, touching and endearing. Which is not nothing in the falsified world of pop.
Melodies On Hiatus
(Red Bull Records)
By Louis-Henri de La Rochefoucauld
1688351746
#Album #month #Melodies #Hiatus