Little Joy

We Say...

Review by Chris Roberts

The Strokes have not been entirely idle during their hiatus: Albert Hammond, Jr. now has two solo albums to his name, while Nikolai Fraiture's debut emerges soon. Meanwhile drummer Fabrizio Moretti releases this affable, good-humored set of miniatures. Although he extends himself to guitar, piano, bass and glockenspiel, it's the voice of Rodrigo Amarante, Los Hermanos' singer/guitarist, that takes center stage, while Moretti's girlfriend Binki Shapiro chimes in at the microphone once or twice.

Despite this, there are phases where their offerings so closely resemble The Strokes that you have to check you're not listening to Room On Fire. Amarante's tones are warmly seductive, yet nevertheless uncannily echo the world-weary, faintly slurred asides of one Julian Casablancas. On the two songs which wake up enough to almost rock, "Keep Me In Mind" and the very New York-art-scene "How To Hang A Warhol" — those recognizable flickers of Television-refracted-through-Interpol cannot be ignored.

Recorded in LA with Devendra Banhart producer Noah Georgeson, Little Joy glows with dazed, sun-baked languor. South African rhythms as purloined by Vampire Weekend guide "Next Time Around," and "No-one's Better Sake" has a dash of jerky ska, but elsewhere Amarante croons like a weathered '50s matinee idol of melancholy and moonlight. "Brand New Start" has a hint of country swing. When Shapiro steps up, her delicate whisper evokes The Velvets' "Sunday Morning" if Nico was on helium. It's all, in fact, very Sunday morning: gentle, happy to be itself, and familiar enough to sink into contentedly.