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After decades playing alongside Alexis Taylor in Hot Chip and James Murphy in LCD Soundsystem, Al Doyle steps forward with his first solo album, Hollywood Saviour. “It’s me discovering a way to write and sing stuff that I could live with,” he says of the record that finally drove him to embrace his own voice.
Recorded at his East London studio, Relax and Enjoy, the album carries the rush and release of a breakthrough. Doyle finds freedom in the simplicity of guitar, bass and drums, leaning into the weird, spontaneous, raucous and raw.
Its sense of fun draws inspiration from the loose electro-funk of Sexual Harassment’s “I Need A Freak” and Throbbing Gristle’s “Something Came Over Me”, which he covers here. His vocals bring together echoes of Iggy Pop, Pete Shelley and PIL-era John Lydon.
Opener “Hard Times In America” offers a psychedelic window into his experiences travelling to the United States, while “All I Want For Christmas” closes with a dark character portrait set among drum machine and piano. Throughout, Doyle’s voice gives these songs a character entirely his own.
Tracklist
Side A
- Hard Times In America
- Diamonds, Stars and Fires
- Everything Myself
- Passion Is A Crime
- The Front Door
Side B
- Pharaohs
- Rent Free
- Hollywood Saviour
- Something Came Over Me
- All I Want For Christmas