Albert Hammond Jr. - Melodies On Hiatus

Wer seine triste schwarze Plattenhülle durch so viele bunte Kreise verschönert, möchte doch auch nicht, dass die dazugehörige Schallplatte auf langweiligem black Vinyl daher kommt, oder?

Albert Hammond Jr. sieht dies genau so und hat daher für sein fünftes Soloalbum zusammen mit der designerin Liz Hirsch gleich fünf äußerst hübsche Schallplatten-Varianten im Angebot:

1. Yellow, Green and Black Vinyl

2. Orange with Magenta & Black Splatter

3. Cloudy Red Vinyl

4. Clear with Blue/Red/Green Splatter Vinyl

5. Twister Vinyl

„Melodies On Hiatus“ bietet 19 Songs in knapp 68 Minuten.  Das Album entstand zusammen mit dem schwedischen Produzenten Gus Oberg, der schon seit Jahren mit Albert Hammond Jr. und The Strokes zusammen arbeitet, mit textlicher Hilfe des Poeten Simon Wilcox, mit Gastbeiträgen des Rappers GoldLink („100-99“), der Schauspielerin Rainey Qalley („Remember“, „Alright Tomorrow“), die als Sängerin unter dem namen Rainsford auftritt, sowie des Schlagzeugers Matt Helders (Arctic Monkeys) und des Gitarristen Steve Stevens („Thoughtful Distress“) und klingt so:

 

At first, his meditations on days gone by are breezy: Buoyed by a sprightly guitar riff, "Old Man"'s look at Hammond's father from a different perspective ("don't you know the tables turn on you when you get old?") is a cheeky highlight, while the line he draws between then and now for an old flame on "Darlin'" is as firm as the melody is catchy. As the album unfolds, however, Hammond lets the cracks in the facade show. "Dead Air" fights against ennui and meaninglessness over chiming and choppy guitars; "False Alarm" starts out as naïvely chugging, '90s-indebted pop, but as Hammond sings about "a loneliness inside," it morphs into a searching piano ballad. When Melodies on Hiatus echoes his work with the Strokes, it reads like additional commentary on the past's inextricable bonds. (…)

Indeed, the album's greatest strength is that while it may be rooted in the past, it's not stuck there. 

(AllMusic)

 

Having Wilcox transmute Hammond Jr’s auditory ramblings into lyricism works well. In moments like the gritty Americana track ‘Old Man’ or the rockabilly lifting, ‘Memo Of Hate’ where sharp lyricism like “I relived all those nights / on a loop in my mind / can you tell I’m uptight used to be what you liked” meet swift guitar licks, you can hear the fruits of their synergy.

Crucially, it’s been informed by his move from the East to West. Los Angeles is decidedly more sprawling than NYC – you can stand on hills and look towards the horizon without it being blocked by gargantuan skyscrapers. ‘Melodies On Hiatus’, adopts the same spaciousness of the territory it was created in, allowing Hammond Jr to spiral and sprawl out sonically. ‘Melodies On Hiatus’ may seem meandering at times, but eventually it lands where it needs to be.

(NME)