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 bookPale 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," saidStereogum. "[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
