Rating: 3/5
You can’t really begrudge Albert Hammond Jr his solo career. The Strokes aren’t exactly prolific, Julian Casablancas does most of that band’s songwriting, and with their Lower East Side hipster image to keep up, it’s easy to imagine that private universe becoming an exceedingly cramped place for someone as individually creative as Hammond Jr. But as much as he’d like us to forget about his other band when in solo mode, it’s hard to get too excited about side-projects, no matter the sincerity invested in them. Yours To Keep was a perfectly good record, and so is ¿Cómo Te Llama? He employs a similarly lackadaisical singing style to Casablancas on ‘Bargain Of A Century’, although it begins to strain by new single ‘GfC’. ‘Victory At Monterey’ and the instrumental ‘Spooky Couch’ (featuring a piano cameo from Sean Lennon) take Albert Hammond Jr as far as he’s been, but so far that extent has never gone beyond a certain other band.
¿Cómo Te Llama? is released on 7 July by Rough Trade
You can currently listen to the entire album on Albert Hammond Jr’s MySpace. What a generous chap.
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