Role Model's New Album 'Chuck Timely & The Hourglass': NME Calls It His Most Charming Yet
American singer-songwriter Role Model (born Tucker Pillsbury) released his third album, Chuck Timely & The Hourglass, via Polydor on August 7, 2026. According to a review in NME, the record — named after a fictional time-traveler character — breaks from the breakup-confessional mold of his first two albums, instead using loose, Americana-flavored production to portray single life. NME calls it his most charming album to date.
The concept behind it
"Chuck Timely" is the alter ego Pillsbury gave the whole record — a fictional time traveler who's hung out with Michael Jackson and Olivia Rodrigo. Pillsbury told Rolling Stone the character was added only after all the songs were finished, so this isn't a concept album in the strict sense. Around the same period, he also wrapped acting work on director Lena Dunham's upcoming film Good Sex.
His 2022 debut, Rx, centered on his relationship with internet personality Emma Chamberlain; 2024's Kansas Anymore was a country-inflected record of post-breakup self-pity. NME argues both albums were really about Pillsbury himself more than their surface subjects.
What NME says about the songs
Lead single "High Hopes 3000" is polished and depicts a narrator repeatedly striking out while looking for love. "Service Receipt" is a breezy, MOR-styled scene of chatting someone up at a restaurant. "Stain" pairs a lyric about heartbreak as a stain that never washes out with an almost aggressively smooth muzak arrangement that undercuts the weight of it. "Song Is All You Get" is self-deprecating, suggesting that heartbreak at least yields a good song.
NME notes the Americana style is pushed almost to the point of self-parody, and some self-pity still lingers (see "Love I You") — but Pillsbury is judged far more successful when sketching easy single life than when digging into raw emotion.
Release details
- 💿 Album: Chuck Timely & The Hourglass
- 🏷️ Label: Polydor
- 📅 Release date: August 7, 2026
Not stated in the source: full tracklist, touring plans, or physical/vinyl release details.