Albert Hammond Jr., better known as the Stroke with big hair, has decided to go solo. It was never quite clear what he did for the Strokes, considering Nick Valensi played the solos and Julian Casablancas wrote the songs, so Yours to Keep seemed an opportune chance for Hammond to reveal his own musical voice; unfortunately, too many years with the band reveal a songwriter struggling to find his own identity.

Phase one: blissful ignorance. The CD’s shiny and colorful packaging is ripped open to reveal tiny keyboards and Pet Sounds harmonies on first track “Cartoon Music for Superheroes.” The song’s dreamlike quality is pleasantly unique, holding the promise of a diverse album.

As “Superheroes” fades into second track “In Transit,” though, sparse drums are replaced with the signature bang of Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti, toy keyboards evaporate into stock guitar and Hammond starts screaming about freefalling like Casablancas doing Tom Petty. If there is one classic rocker worth despising, it would have to be Petty — Hammond’s recycling of one of his most overused lyrics shakes off any leftover bliss and introduces phase two: bitter disillusionment.

The rest of the album follows suit, using a variety of post-punk beats and riffs that sound, well, like the Strokes. All this would be somewhat forgiven if Yours to Keep were Casablancas’ solo record, but coming from the rhythm guitar player, it’s disappointing that his writing style draws so heavily from the band from which he is making a break.