We caught up with solo artist and The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr on the eve of the release of his new album Francis Trouble.
It’s hard for many of us to fathom the circumstances and life events that have bought Albert Hammond Jr to where he is now. As a teenager he joined The Strokes, the band that would be later heralded as ‘the saviours of rock and roll,’ wrestled with their rapid fame, escaped through drugs and, of course, crafted some of the biggest indie songs of a generation – it’s a story that would escape few people’s curiosity, and be the envy of many.
As challenging as it would be to imagine all the highs and lows of his journey, his fourth solo album Francis Trouble further delves into unfamiliar territory for listeners and Hammond Jr himself, as he unpacks the lingering effect of the stillborn death of his twin brother. Also, there’s the recently surfaced knowledge that a fingernail belonging to Francis remained in the womb with him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2W3OSOwYDI
“I’d known that I’d had a twin, that my Mum had lost a twin, but I didn’t know all that. For a split second, you wonder if you collided, so many thoughts go into it and I was already curious anyways, just the idea of losing a twin – that you had a brother living in ‘space land’ inside your Mum at the same time is pretty crazy, he says. “And that I somehow I stayed in there is even crazier.”
When you listen to Hammond Jr’s music, it embodies the best parts of indie rock, guitar-riff and melody-heavy tunes with bursts of emotionally charged lyricism that you can dance to. It’s a format of music that one might not normally associate with the melancholy contemplativeness of the story behind Francis Trouble, though he believes it’s important to highlight the duality of feelings that can be experienced at any given time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg_Hu9P3I10
“It was great to confront it. Everything and anything can be difficult too, but it was great. Whatever difficulty that was in there was great and it also made me realise how much I just wanted to have a visceral entertaining record, that was fun and moving,” he says. “It’s first impact could just been fun and layers could be peeled off later. The idea also that it didn’t have to take itself seriously – but it could – or just because you didn’t take it serious while performing, it didn’t mean that it wasn’t serious. I like that idea.”
Leaving his songs open to interpretation is something Hammond Jr intentionally strives for, believing that avoiding clouding the listener’s perception of his work allows for a more widely engaging experience.
“You create so that you can also have other people create stuff with it as well… It keeps having life. I don’t want to take away someone’s creativity in hearing it. That discovery is so important, especially now when it feels like things can almost be so spoon fed so you’ve forgotten the ability to connect like that,” he says.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s14WISQpRAs
Francis Trouble is no drastic departure stylistically for Hammond Jr, though after the first listen to the record, it becomes clear that this is by far the best collection of pop tunes that he has ever created – full of melodies that could only have been written by an accomplished songsmith, yet with the volatile energy and hooks of a sixteen-year-old kid strumming away in his bedroom.
As the release date approaches, he feels no anxiety about the album, though he dismisses the idea that putting out an album has become somewhat of a routine feature of his life.
“It would be a sad day if I was ever used to something where it would be just another day. I feel like the whole beauty of life is the constant unknown which keeps you on your toes… I wanna play bigger shows,” he says. “Playing with The Killers cemented my idea that I belong in an arena… The only pressure is my own pressure in hoping it does well.”
