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ALBERT HAMMOND JR. PERFORMS ON “THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON” ON MONDAY, AUGUST 3
MOMENTARY MASTERS, HIS NEW SOLO ALBUM, IS STREAMING NOW ON PITCHFORK UPCOMING TOUR INCLUDES PERFORMANCES AT LOLLAPALOOZA AND AUSTIN CITY LIMITS FESTIVAL |
Los Angeles, CA – July 27, 2015 – Albert Hammond Jr. will perform on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Monday, August 3. His new solo album, Momentary Masters, is streaming exclusively on Pitchfork in the days leading up to its July 31 release on Vagrant Records. Listen to the album in its entirety HERE. Fans who pre-order Momentary Masters digitally will instantly receive the lead single, “Losing Touch,” plus “Born Slippy” and “Side Boob.”
Hammond Jr. will be touring extensively in support of Momentary Masters. He will perform at Lollapalooza next Sunday, August 2, and during both weekends of the 2015 Austin City Limits Festival. On September 9, he’ll kick off a North American headline tour at Brillobox in Pittsburgh, PA. The run will include shows at New York City’s Bowery Ballroom (September 21 and 22) and at Teragram Ballroom in Los Angeles (October 14). See below for itinerary.
Momentary Masters – which takes its title from a passage in astronomer Carl Sagan’s influential book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space that reflects on earth’s small place in the cosmic arena – was recorded at Oneway Studios, a converted barn at Hammond Jr.’s upstate New York home. Produced by GRAMMY®-winning producer Gus Oberg, whom he had become close friends with during sessions for The Strokes’ Angles and Comedown Machine, Momentary Masters is the first album to feature Hammond Jr.’s touring band: guitarist Hammarsing Kharhmar, guitarist Mikey Hart, bassist Jordan Brooks and drummer Jeremy Gustin.
Momentary Masters is a record about finding a new curiosity in life as a result of the loss of innocence that knowledge and time create. The music might be largely buoyant-spry, breezy guitar lines locking together and dancing apart – but melancholy frequently seeps into even the sunniest of toplines. It’s a record of acceptance, too.
“You know how you hang out with someone and there’s things you wouldn’t tell people? You portray that one side which you find to be most attractive, but eventually, if you become close enough, you reveal another side,” explains Hammond Jr. “Most people want to push that away and pretend it doesn’t exist. As good a person as you are, there is also darkness, and if you don’t believe that, you’re just lying to yourself. To be complete, you need to integrate that into your life and accept it as a whole.”
The official video for the album’s first single, “Losing Touch,” begins with dialogue from a classic Ingmar Bergman film, The Seventh Seal, and follows Hammond Jr. as he tries to elude the Grim Reaper. The clip, which was directed by Laurent Briet (Radiohead, Death Cab for Cutie) during a two-day trip to Morocco, can be viewed HERE.
“Hammond’s made another uplifting pop song that makes me feel like I’m back in high school,” said Stereogum. “[Losing Touch]” is classic Strokes (and, as a result, Hammond), complete with a chorus heavy on the vocal distortion,” observed Entertainment Weekly. SPIN noted that the song has “the sort of soaring chorus that marks many of his best solo songs” and praised its “neon-lit guitar lines.” “On ‘Born Slippy,’ the bouncy interplay of the guitars and Hammond, Jr.’s passionate singing recall Television’s work on Marquee Moon,” said Rolling Stone. “He’s cleaned up, gotten hitched, and moved from the city to upstate New York, but hasn’t lost the ability to create soaring rock riffs and catchy hooks,” observed Paper Magazine.
Hammond Jr. spoke at length with Stereogum about the album for this recent feature and tackled PopMatters’ 20 Questions – on everything from time travel and creative inspirations to stress management and Armani vs. Levis – in this Q&A.
Pertinent Links: Stream Momentary Masters on Pitchfork HERE. Pre-order Momentary Masters HERE. View “Losing Touch” Video HERE. Read Stereogum feature HERE. Read PopMatters’ 20 Questions Q&A HERE.
North American Tour Dates
8/2 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza 9/9 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox 9/10 – Cleveland Heights, OH @ Grog Shop 9/13 – Lawrence, KS @ The Bottleneck 9/15 – Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge 9/16 – Detroit, MI @ The Shelter 9/17 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House 9/19 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa 9/20 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair 9/21 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom 9/22 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (on sale July 31) 9/26 – Washington, DC @ Landmark Music Festival 9/29 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl 9/30 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In 10/2 – New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks 10/2-4 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival 10/5 – Houston, TX @ House of Blues – Bronze Peacock 10/6 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues – Cambridge Room 10/7 – Norman, OK @ Opolis 10/8 – Little Rock, AR @ Juanita’s 10/9-11 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival 10/12 – Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar 10/13 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory 10/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom 10/16 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent 10/25 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile 10/26 – Vancouver, BC @ Venue 10/27 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge 10/29 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge 10/30 – Aspen, CO @ Belly Up Aspen 10/31 – Denver, CO @ Lost Lake Lounge 11/2 – Des Moines, IA @ Vaudville Mews 11/3 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club 11/4 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon 11/6 – Columbus, OH @ The Basement 11/7 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church Philadelphia
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