Albert Hammond, Jr. (MySpace page link with a couple of songs to stream) is the guitarist from The Strokes with the brutal haircut and the 3-piece suits.

His first solo album “Yours To Keep” has been getting decent reviews and I think they’re well-deserved. This isn’t an album of the greatest songs evar but they’re solid little pop songs. It’s a little jarring at first to hear the Strokes-y chord changes and guitar noodles without the greasy rocker-whine of Julian Casablancas on top but after a few listens the songs stand well on their own.

I don’t think you need to be a fan of The Strokes to get into this record but I don’t think anyone outside of The Strokes’ fanbase is even going to know it’s out. That’s too bad, really, because this album is pretty good.

“Bright Young Thing is just a nice little song, and like most of ‘Yours To Keep’, should be on many a hipster Summertime soundtrack. “Well…All Right” is one of the U.S.-only bonus tracks and I think it’s great. It’s the best-case scenario for a bonus track: simple song idea without too much thought or overproduction. It might be my favorite song on the cd.

’101′ is the first single off of the album. Here’s the video. I think the zombie-ness is completely necessary.