Review: Jeremie Albino ‘Our Time in the Sun’
By Hal Horowitz
Sometimes talent is not enough…you need a little luck.
Despite releasing three admirable discs fusing country, blues, and singer-songwriter styles with graceful subtlety, along with performing opening slots for high-profile acts like Orville Peck and Sierra Ferrell, Jeremie Albino hasn’t cracked headlining status. Additionally, he didn’t enjoy writing songs, a process he felt took too long.
But the planets were aligned when Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach, also the owner of the Easy Eye Sound label, chanced upon Albino’s music and was immediately smitten. He invited the one-time Canadian street busker to his studio, brought in established Nashville songsmiths like Pat McLaughlin, and worked up these dozen rootsy, soulful slices of bluesy Americana on the terrific ‘Our Time in the Sun’ (out November 1).
Influences range from J.J.Cale’s easy grooving swamp to The Band’s mélange of difficult to pigeonhole Southern rock, pop and blues along with vocals referencing a combination of Paul Janeway (St. Paul & the Broken Bones) and Early James. But Albino’s approach is unique in its ability to morph between songs, yet maintain a distinctive sound falling in the vague genre of Americana. Regardless, once you hear him sing, you’ll understand how Auerbach was instantly impressed.
You’ll be too.
From his opening words of “Oh I-iiiiii, don’t mind waiting,” until the closing cheerful love song “Hold Me Tight” where he repeats that his “love won’t fade away” with the vibrancy of someone who has found that special someone, no other singer/songwriter sounds like Albino.
His quivering tenor captures the intent of his lyrics without pretention or affectation. When he sings on the personal “Struggling With the Bottle,” “I stay lonesome for most my days/Feeling like I have lost my way/I get down on my knees and pray/Trying to chase my demons away” with Auerbach’s stun guitar creating a wired psychedelic blues rocker, he expresses the pain and honesty that created those words.
He’s just as comfortable with a subtle ballad. The following “Give It to Me One More Time” captures the tortured soul beneath “You go your way, I’ll go mine” before revving up to a grinding chorus, then fading back down for a more intimate approach. Albino eases into Cale territory on the lazy strum of “Let Me Lay My Head” as congas bubble under the yearning lyrics of “Won’t you gimme a little place to hide/Ooh baby let me come inside,” sung with all the hope and resignation those words convey.
Albino is especially comfortable with the soul/blues title track. It’s a riveting slice of Daptone-styled R&B that allows Albino to let loose with his voice reflecting on memories of better days with an ex. When he sings “We held on to what we had/But even true love sometimes goes bad” anyone who has felt that will appreciate his pain.
According to Albino, the connection with Auerbach, who co-pens every track, opened up his songwriting and the results are obvious. These dozen organic tunes feel fresh yet have the grit and guts of the finest 60s Southern rock and soul.
Chalk it up to a lucky break but Jeremie Albino was primed and prepared, making the superb ‘Our Time in the Sun’ not just his finest album but a harbinger that the best is still ahead.
“Our Time In The Sun”
Jeremie Albino website
Leave A Comment