Fourth album from the soulful Canadian brings a touch of nostalgia to proceedings.
Jeremie Albino first discovered his love of performing when busking as teenager in his native Toronto. All it took was for one or two passers-by to pause, take a beat to listen and converse with the musician, and the fire was lit. The realisation that he could hold an audience and give something back to them with his music, was when he knew he loved performing.
As much as that love of performing was cemented very early, Albino never found the same engagement with songwriting. In fact, by his own admission, it was a process he hated; a necessary evil that could take months of struggle. So, it was something of a breakthrough for Albino to sign with producer Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound label. All of a sudden, the writing chore became a pleasure as the pair bounced ideas off each other and Auerbach brought seasoned Nashville writers in to help with the process.
The end result of that work is Albino’s fourth solo album, ‘Our Time In The Sun.’ It is an album dripping with soul and R&B, sprinkled with hints of gospel and funk. It is a sound that hits the mark from the off with the marvellous opening track ‘I Don’t Mind Waiting’. Comparisons to musical legends are always trite but 30 seconds into that opener Sam Cooke is the name that comes to mind. The groove, the rhythm, the voice. It is a semblance that repeats, not always, but enough to certainly hints at Albino’s musical influences.
‘Rolling Down The 405’, previewed on these pages back in the summer as the first release from the album is, along with that opening track, one of a number of highpoints on the record. Albino recalls “That was the most fun I’ve had making a record, and it set the tone for the rest of the sessions.” Whilst retaining that overall sense of a musician having the time of his life, the album does contain some variation with a little anarchic guitar work from Auerbach or a touch of loud psychedelia thrown in for good measure from time to time.
That said, for those looking for to sample the best of what the album has to offer then the signpost points towards the final three tracks. ‘Since I’ve Been Knowing You’, ‘Gimmie Some’ and final track ‘Hold Me Tight’ aren’t the loudest or boldest songs here but they all get to the heart of what the album has to offer and allows Albino’s soulful vocals to shine, almost as a tribute to those soul and R&B legends of the 60s and 70s. Albino has drawn on those legendary influences to deliver a record that is both contemporary and nostalgic at the same time.
