Albert Hammond Jr, co-founder and lead guitarist of the Strokes, is back with another new solo album: Melodies on Hiatus, the follow-up to 2018’s Francis Trouble, is out June 23 via Red Bull. Hammond has also shared the lead single, “100-99,” featuring GoldLink. It comes with a music video directed by Angela Ricciardi and Silken Weinberg; find it below.
“I grew up listening to ’90s hip-hop, and I would always gravitate towards the melodic hooks in the songs I heard on the radio, specifically anything Dr. Dre was producing or rapping on,” Hammond said of his new single in a press release. “Years later, I noticed myself pulling from the style of those melodic lines in my guitar work, even though it wasn’t obvious to anyone else as I was so directly associated with being in a rock band. ‘100-99’ was something I’ve wanted to do for some time—work with a rapper over a beat and guitar part I wrote—and it’s really exciting that I was able to do it with GoldLink.”
In September, Albert Hammond Jr will play a short string of tour dates. Beginning at New York’s Racket on September 14, it will last for five nights, bringing the guitarist across New York state before flying to California and concluding the run on September 21 in Los Angeles. Find the complete itinerary below.
Melodies on Hiatus is Hammond’s first album in five years and follows the 2019 standalone single “More to Life.” The Strokes returned more recently, dropping their comeback album The New Abnormal in 2020.
Read “The Urban Malaise of The Strokes’ Is This It, 15 Years On” on the Pitch.
Albert Hammond Jr: Melodies on Hiatus
Melodies on Hiatus:
01 100-99 [ft. GoldLink]
02 Downtown Fred
03 Old Man
04 Darlin’
05 Thoughtful Distress [ft. Matt Helders and Steve Stevens]
06 Libertude
07 Memo of Hate
08 Home Again
09 I Got You
10 Caught by Night
11 Dead Air
12 One Chance
13 Remember [ft. Rainsford]
14 818
15 Fast Kitten
16 I’d Never Leave
17 Never Stop
18 False Alarm
19 Alright Tomorrow [ft. Rainsford]
Albert Hammond Jr:
09-14 New York, NY – Racket
09-15 Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
09-16 Windham, NY – Cave Mountain Festival
09-20 San Francisco, CA – Bimbo’s 365 Club
09-21 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
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