Nickel Eye

The cleverly named Nickel Eye is the solo project of The Strokes' bassist, Nikolai Fraiture, who finished up his debut—The Time of the Assassins—while his "main band" was on hiatus. Fraiture handles a majority of the work including guitar, bass, harmonica, lyrics and vocals. He does enlist the help of UK band South to pick up what little slack is left. If you're expecting The Time of the Assassins to be the album The Strokes' never released then you're in for a surprise. Assassins doesn't share much similarity to Fraiture's previous endeavor. Instead it deals in a much more stripped down, minimalistic style. These songs are simple and, for the most part, pretty catchy. Each song has a storyteller's touch, much like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen, all of whom Fraiture admits, influenced Assassins.
B Nickel Eye's vocal delivery is monotone and bland which works on some songs but not so well on others. For every, "You and Everyone Else" that gets the listener tapping their foot, bobbing their heads and humming the chorus, there are songs like "Fountain Avenue" that come off repetitive, boring and grating. Fortunately, The Time of the Assassins has a lot more hits than it does misses, and most of the tracks will be stuck in your head for some time to come. Nickel Eye does a great job of blurring the lines between folk, indie and rock fusing all three styles with perfect balance. Fraiture also really nails the spirit of the singer/songwriters he draws influence from. "Where the Cold Wind Blows" is the album's standout track with a simple acoustic guitar gently being played over a melancholy cello and Fraiture's voice complimenting the music perfectly.

If you're into modern folk or stripped down minimalist rock that harkens back to the good old singer/songwriter days The Time of the Assassins is for you. Although not perfect, it's strong enough to stand on its own and deliver some great memorable material, which shows promise and will surely be tweaked and perfected upon in upcoming releases. Let's hope when The Strokes' resume writing this February Fraiture doesn't let Nickel Eye fall by the wayside.

—Tony Caso
01.27.09

As the Strokes' recording hiatus stretched into its third year, bassist Nikolai Fraiture joined his fellow bandmembers Albert Hammond, Jr. and Fabrizio Moretti and started a side project. Backed by the British band South, Fraiture is Nickel Eye, and Time of the Assassins may be the most musically different of any of the Strokes' extracurricular music from their main project. Inspired by the Kinks, Frank Black and, especially, Leonard Cohen -- a cover of whose "Hey That's No Way to Say Goodbye" closes the album -- Nickel Eye trades in folky pop that sounds homespun despite cameos by Regina Spektor and Nic Zinner (whose strafing guitar is unmistakable on "Dying Star"). Perhaps the biggest difference between Time of the Assassins and the Strokes' output is the earnestness that radiates from this album, from Fraiture's voice, which is nasal and sometimes more than a little off-key, to its lyrics, most of which were culled from poetry he wrote while he was still in his teens. Not surprisingly, Time of the Assassins has more than its fair share of angst and brooding, from the black-hearted balladry of "Back from Exile," which uses traditional-sounding imagery such as fevers, New Orleans, and walking the line, to more typical breakup laments like "You and Everyone Else." These songs aren't exactly amateurish, but they are underdeveloped, starting out relatively strong before sputtering to a close. The album's lighter moments fare better, especially "Fountain Avenue," which fulfills Fraiture's daydream of being a '60s folkie with misty acoustic strumming and cooing backing vocals courtesy of his wife Illy, and the bruised pop of "Another Sunday Afternoon." "Providence, RI"'s ambling folk-rock and "Brandy of the Damned"'s reggae lilt are very different but equally charming, making the most of Fraiture's limited voice and showing off his skills as a creative, intuitive bassist. Neither horrible nor great, Time of the Assassins is an unassuming album, a working holiday that was probably more enjoyable to make than for anyone besides die-hard Strokes fans to hear. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide