ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘Our Time in the Sun’ Jeremie Albino Wears His Heart on His Sleeve
Jim Shahen
Posted On October 30, 2024
On last year’s superlative Tears You Hide, Torontian singer-songwriter Jeremie Albino proved himself a talent to be reckoned with. His voice is powerful and malleable throughout the album, allowing him to move between rock, soul, blues, and folk with aplomb.
Albino takes these genre-hopping capabilities and his heart-on-the-sleeve intensity to a new level with Our Time in the Sun, his first project for Easy Eye Sound. Over the course of a dozen songs and with the help of Dan Auerbach’s characteristically punchy production, Albino sounds like a star.
The album’s lead single, “Rolling Down the 405,” fits nicely in the grand tradition of open road songs, wedding the swagger and bluesiness of early ’70s Rolling Stones tracks (think “All Down the Line”) with breezy country-rock. It’s a near-perfect summertime jam, readymade for blasting in your car with the windows rolled down.
Elsewhere, Albino explores the more overtly soulful sounds in his repertoire. “Baby Ain’t it Cold Outside,” “Our Time in the Sun,” and “I Don’t Mind Waiting” allude to Stax and Chess Records releases by Otis Redding and Irma Thomas. But Albino and the backing band that includes former Dap-Kings bassist Thomas Brenneck, UK funk band The Heliocentrics’ drummer Malcolm Catto, and ace session guitarist Tom Bukovac, imbue the material with an energy and fresh approach that don’t sound or feel like retreads of classic sounds.
While Albino expertly works within genre conventions, Our Time in the Sun is particularly thrilling when he expands his sonic palette. “Dinner Bell” is a swampy blues number. On it, Albino and band play with a looseness that makes for some of the most fun to be heard on the album. “Give it to me One Last Time” starts out as a relatively straightforward soul number until the outsized, catchy chorus and guitar solo that owes more to peak Oasis than anything else, takes over.
Our Time in the Sun concludes with “Hold Tight.” Clocking in at just over two minutes, it’s a light, acoustic love song. Sonically, it’s a much subdued contrast to the rest of the material. It makes for a pleasant end cap to a fantastic album.
Jeremie Albino’s Our Time in the Sun will be released Nov. 1 on Easy Eye Sound.
