Jeremie Albino’s fourth album, Our Time In The Sun, is a step up. The Toronto-based singer-songwriter traveled to Nashville to write and record at Easy Eye Sound with Dan Auerbach. The resulting record is an engaging mix of classic rock and roll and southern deep-fried country soul.
Working with some top-notch songwriters this time around (Pat McLaughlin, Bobby Wood, Joe Allen, and Auerbach) and a host of seasoned Nashville session players (Tommy Brenneck: bass, Mike Rojas: keys, Malcolm Catto: drums, Andrew Golden: trumpet, Ray Mason: trombone, Auerbach on guitar), Albino has crafted a strong foundation from which his endearing vocals can take flight.
Albino’s voice takes center stage on the album, sometimes sounding like John Fogerty, with touches of Joe Cocker and George Soulé mixed in as the tunes ebb and flow. The grooving country soul is at the root of all the tracks here, kicking off with the opener, “I Don’t Mind Waiting,” which starts simple via Albino and his acoustic guitar before building up with rising instrumentation of horns, percussion, and bass, all increasing around Albino’s vocals which solidly stand tall.
The funky drum beat of “Baby Ain’t It Cold Outside” leads to a massive chorus, while “Let Me Lay My Head” deploys a slinky, sexy groove. Albino is just as at home in a ballad like “Gimme Some” as he is dealing with alcohol struggles in front of big pumping brass during “Struggling With The Bottle”. Sometimes things can become overly dramatic and bloated, such as on “Give It To Me One Last Time” as the stripped-down numbers, like the acoustic closer “Hold Me Tight”, prove Albino can do more with less.
For most of the proceedings, however, Auerbach’s production and team of professionals knock it out of the park backing Albino. The country soul of the title track is a joy, while “Rolling Down The 405” is a classic rock road song that gets fuzzy and bubbly. “So Many Ways To Say I Love” has flashes of Bob Dylan’s “The Man In Me” coursing through it while “Dinner Bell” may be the best of the bunch as it dips into swampy psychedelia as keys swirl and Auerbach pulls out a killer guitar solo.
A rock-solid slice of southern soul, Our Time In The Sun shines bright with Auerbach’s production and Jeremie Albino’s affecting vocals.
