Chrissie Hynde sneers "I like being alone" on the title track and opening song on
Alone, the first
Pretenders album since 2006's
Break Up the Concrete. That much is true. She may have revived the
Pretenders name for
Alone, the follow-up to her belated 2014 solo debut,
Stockholm, but, just like in 2006,
Martin Chambers isn't in the studio. Instead,
Hynde is collaborating with
Black Key Dan Auerbach, who brings in half of his side project
the Arcs to help him play the instruments on
Alone. Unsurprisingly, this studio incarnation of
the Pretenders shares some '60s AM aesthetics with
the Arcs, sometimes cooking along with the cool grace of Memphis soul and sometimes feeling as thick as rockers cranked out in a greasy garage. The latter is familiar territory for
Hynde but the former is a new wrinkle for her, so one of the pleasures of
Alone is hearing her laying back in a slow, soulful groove. "Roadie Man" simmers like classic
Booker T. & the MG's, "Never Be Together" feels like a dispatch from an alternate Stax, while "One More Day" trades in a bit of bossa nova, a bit of rhythmic flair that illustrates how often
Hynde and
Auerbach play with forgotten '60s pop sounds. This gives
Alone a supple, attractive feel, but
Auerbach also encourages
Hynde to lean into her tough side so that
Alone swaggers like a classic
Pretenders album. Attitude counts for a lot with
Chrissie Hynde, but the true appeal of
Alone is how it marries solid songwriting with a sympathetic, surprising production, all of which amounts to a very satisfying
Pretenders album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine