While you're waiting for The Strokes, give Albert Hammond Jr. a listen

Tired of waiting for The Strokes to get around to that next album? Need a fix?

Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. leaps into the void with "Como Te Llama?," an offbeat march into very un-Strokesian territory (it's his second solo release since The Strokes last record 2006). You'll get the dose of jangly guitar and insistent drum lines you might expect in Hammond's latest, but he layers on strings and keys and ideas that don't fit neatly into a 3½-minute box.

Songs on this follow up to 2006's "Yours to Keep" come in two types. Roughly half the album is long-form Guided By Voices, an homage to indie rock's prolific poet prince, Robert Pollard.

The threatening guitar line, pushed along by a ticky-tack snare on "Rocket," would fit right in on GBV's minimalist "Alien Lanes." And he echoes the vocal delivery and grandiosity of Pollard's later work in "In My Room" and "The Boss Americana."

In the uneven second group Hammond veers away into a strange land of reggae beats and introspective arrangements. These songs are far more experimental than anything you'd find on a Strokes album and even the weaker pieces have interesting accents.

For example, the instrumental "Spooky Couch" has some very nice interplay between two guitars, a forlorn cello adding atmosphere and a few piano flourishes from guest Sean Lennon. But it's overlong by half and feels out of place. It's followed by "Borrowed Time," which veers unsteadily between mock reggae and some impressive power pop guitar work that might have been reworked into something impressive but feels needlessly thrown away.

Overall, though, Hammond proves with "Como Te Llama?" he's relevant as a solo artist and worth our time.

CHECK THIS OUT: With it's syrupy drum machine beat, bouncy bass line, angular guitar and spacey keys, "Lisa" stands out. The song is layered lushly and Hammond skips along on guitar while laying down a reverb-drenched vocal that's among the album's most assured and gripping. And like most of the album it gets more interesting with each listen.