But that was the situation that Albert Hammond Jr found himself in.

Following a stint in rehab, the Los Angeles-native went through an 18-month creative lull in the lead up to his 2013 solo EP, AHJ.

Writing the Strokes track One Way Trigger, the single from their 2013 album Comedown Machine, was a rare foray into songwriting. 

“Yeah, those 18 months... that was rough,” he reflects from his New York home and studio.

“That was rough because I didn’t know if I loved my instrument anymore, which was a weird thing. 

“The guitar sitting in my room looked like it was mocking me. 

“I would stress about what I was going to do. 

“What else do I love? 

“It was the same as being alone – are you going to fall in love again? 

“That’s kind of what happened to me with music, because I fell in love with it. 

“To not have it there felt like a very deep break-up, something that had always been there for me... in my private times.”

But Albert Hammond Jr is head over heels again.

His stunning and most accomplished solo record, Momentary Masters, sings his declaration from the rooftops.

Recorded in his upstate-New York home, a converted barn he calls One Way Studios, this third full-length release is an emotive and energetic collection of pop songs.

It’s the work of a songwriter who, without conscious effort, has stepped further from the towering shadow of The Strokes.

Momentary Masters is laced with his unusual earworm guitar riffs and arrangements, and peels further open with repeated listens.

Hammond Jr assembled a full band at his studio while writing – a different approach to his first two albums - but put no pressure on himself to make a new album.

He took it one song at a time.

“I never fully go, ‘Let’s go and make a record,’” he says.

“Maybe that was the idea in the back of my head, but that seemed like a lot of pressure. 

“I just had songs I was excited about that felt different. 

“And this band was exciting me, how we were playing together. 

“So the idea was, ‘Let’s see how these songs, which are exciting already, mix with this band.

"Let’s see what happens with that.’

“That started a chain reaction for things to take place.”

This fatalistic approach was nothing new.

Hammond Jr has always shirked personal expectations when it comes to his solo work.

His life changed when The Strokes released their debut record, the modern classic This Is It, in 2001.

But when it came to exploring his own music around four years later, he did not believe he could reach the heights of The Strokes.

“When I was 26, 27, when I started with my first solo record [2006’s Yours To Keep], I just wanted to get out of my apartment and finish songs,” he recalls.

“I didn’t even think I’d tour it or finish a record. 

“I’d already played shows and was in a big band, and I remember playing my first secret [solo] show just to feel how it was, and I felt like it was the first time I was ever on stage. 

“So I bloomed late, I had to go through all these things that created this [new] record.”

The album’s title, Momentary Masters, references a term from astronomer Carl Sagan’s book Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.

Hammond Jr was bemused by the term, which alludes to humans’ propensity to try and master aspects of the universe.

When applied to his own songwriting, it explained the fleeting moment of excitement when a new song is written and then how quickly that elation dissipates.

So what drives Albert Hammond Jr to keep writing?

It he chasing the momentary thrill of a new composition?

“I don’t think it’s one thing,” he says.

“I think you could be the most excited you’ve ever been and feel like you’ve discovered a song and want to show it to everyone, then a minute later feel like you want to quit. 

“All those emotions go in there, it’s just trying to balance them out. 

“You have to balance the confidence to be able to build your ego to believe you could do something, and then give yourself enough self-doubt to not make you an arsehole.”

But the influential guitarist says confidence aids him as a songwriter, helping him realise when an idea is worth pursuing.

“It reminds me of when I was a kid and I wrote a melody, there’s nothing better than that first second where you feel this raw melody,” he says.

“If you played it for anyone they’d be like, ‘What are you doing?’ 

“They wouldn’t hear it, but you’d hear the beginnings of something in your head. 

“That’s fun once you’re getting to where I am here. 

“I’m a little more confident with stuff because I can believe in myself at an earlier point. 

“When you first start, you’re scared and you throw things away - because they’re very delicate, those early stages. 

“They can be shot dead very easily.”

It has taken some time for Hammond Jr to be confident as a solo artist too.

“I feel like more of a frontman now, more of someone who’s confident in wanting to get out in front of the crowd and say, ‘Hey, I’m here, check me out,’” he admits.

While his approach to arrangements and melody is something the songwriter is willing to dissect, he avoids spelling out the meanings behind his lyrics.

He wants them to resonate and be open to interpretation.

His end game is music that both excites and provokes emotion from the listener.

“I never like going through and explaining [songs] part by part - people get that in their gut or they don’t,” he says.

“It’s like in school when they tell you everything about a book - you never like the book when they do that. 

“Then you read it by yourself - there’s a gut reaction that you have towards art, seeing a photo or [reading] a poem. 

“There’s ways you can take it apart, to see its structure - I understand that too. 

“But for most people, for fans and stuff, half of it has to be entertainment that hits them and the other half should bring them those goosebumps.

“And you’re always trying to do a little bit of both.

"Create the excitement and make them feel something.

"Some times it works better than others, and different people connect to different songs.”

Hammond Jr has visited Australia for many memorable Strokes performances, but is yet to tour with his own band.

He is aiming for a visit to our shores in February for Laneway Festival and says he's like "a Jersey gangster", making his management strong arm the event's promoters.

"I feel like Australia is one of my favourite places to be and tour,” he says.

“If I don’t make it [in February], I’m going to try to make it on my own. 

“Because I’ve never been there [as a solo artist] and I feel like I have an awesome setlist of songs now. 

“I’ve just finished practising and I was like, ‘Wow, what a fun hour and twenty minutes I can do.’ 

“I really want to get down there.”

Momentary Masters is out now.

Alive has three copies to give away.

For your chance to win fill out the coupon in Thursday's Mercury and return it to our office by noon on Wednesday.

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