Free MP3: Albert Hammond Jr.'s "GfC"
Albert Hammond Jr. is vacationing like the rock star he is ― strolling the beach at St. Martin as we speak by phone.
“I imagine we’ll be getting back together next year to start tracking a new album,” said Hammond when asked about the status of his main gig, slinging guitar and co-writing tunes for modern garage rock giants the Strokes.
It’s a reasonable question since Hammond’s cut and released two solo albums, 2007’s Yours to Keep and the new Como Te Llama?, since the last Strokes outing, 2006’s First Impressions of Earth.
But a fellah’s gotta keep busy. So while the Strokes have been on hiatus Hammond recorded Yours to Keep with the help of friends like Sean Lennon and Strokes singer Julian Casablancas, then upped the ante on Como Te Llama? by producing the disc himself at New York City’s Jimi-built Electric Lady Studios. Lennon reappears, playing piano on the surprisingly abstract instrumental “Spooky Couch,” along with noisy six-stringer Marc-Phillipe Eskenazi of the Mooney Suzuki.
Fans have been hearing the new disc’s first single since Hammond’s solo tour last year, where its title was abbreviated from the original “Grandfather Clock” to the set-list shorthand “GfC” (Download the track for free, above!) Either way it’s a sugary pop nugget, with a swooping sing along melody.
“A lot of people think G-Fm-C- are the chords, but they’re actually Em-G-C-Am,” said Hammond, shattering a common myth circulated by blogging fans.
What’s absolutely true is that all of Como Te Llama? ― which roughly translates as “What’s His Name?” ― has the same gritty urban spark and chugging pace of a Strokes album, but with a little extra icing for pure pop fans with a sweet tooth.
Lovers of vinyl get a perk from Hammond, too. He decided to do a special pressing on white vinyl ― and Gibson’s giving three autographed copies away. (Enter the contest here!)
“What’s cool about vinyl ― ever since smaller forms like mini-discs and downloads have taken off ― is the artwork," said Hammond. "And now you can do printing and pressing cheaper than you used to when vinyl ruled, so you can do different colors and bigger artwork. When you buy an album on vinyl, you feel like you really have something.”
Hammond didn’t necessarily plan to have a second solo album already. But when he wrote “GfC” “it was the beginning of the idea that I wanted to make another solo album,” he said. “I felt the chords were more inspired by blues and country, and it has a different rhythm on the verses and chorus. I wanted to explore that more.”
While Hammond was able to workshop these songs alone, it’s a different matter with the Strokes. “We all get together and shed and jam. And maybe some jam will lead us in a certain direction. Or maybe Julian has an idea he wants to go with. But we develop everything together.
Nonetheless, he asserts, if the Stokes were in work mode any of the songs on Como Te Llama? might have been Strokes numbers. “The band is really willing to explore any ideas that seem new, different or exciting,” said Hammond.
Within a few days of our conversation Hammond would be literally taking his act to Europe to open a string of dates for Coldplay starting Sept. 1. But looking beyond that tour, he’ll be resuming work with the Strokes and perhaps spreading his production wings further.
“I’ve really become very comfortable being myself when I write,” he says. “Between my own albums and the Strokes, I feel like I have a lot of creative ground covered. One of the cool things about producing is that it keeps me a little closer to home. The best thing about it, though, is trying to bring out the best qualities of what other artists do without making them sound like you. You have to zero in on what’s special about them and try to show them what that thing is. And then you try to capture that by creating and defining a sound.
“It’s a fun mathematical game.”