Calling all indie rock kids! Gather your dirty denim, old leather jackets, and a borrowed pack of cigarettes you’ll never smoke. The Strokes are finally back with their first full-length record in seven years – and the wait was worth it.
The most fittingly titled record for the times, The New Abnormal features The Strokes at their most polished and yet their most raw. Julian Casablancas appears to be giving a solid effort – and that’s truly noteworthy these days. As artists, the band has grown tremendously and mostly seems beyond the strange studio experimentation that led them to create Comedown Machine in 2013 and, to a certain extent, Angles in 2011.
Now, a few tracks sound fully formed enough for the radio, ready to be queued up for the next indie dance party, and on par with their early commercial hits like “Reptilia” and “You Only Live Once.” Namely, “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus” – a synth-y dance number that recalls the energetic rhythms of The Hives and melodies of early Killers work – and “Bad Decisions” should instantly join the ranks of Songs That Must Be Played Live. Most refreshingly, these songs feel completely unafraid of sounding fun. “Bad Decisions” has guitar riffs ripped straight from Joy Division and New Order records while the chorus nabs the vocal melody of Generation X’s classic “Dancing With Myself.” The moodier and groovier “Eternal Summer” combines Julian’s falsetto with a vocal melody close enough to the Psychedelic Furs’ “The Ghost in You” that the ’80s band has a writing credit.
Despite all that, the classic Strokes we know don’t feel too far from their roots. There’s still mentions of the Brooklyn Bridge, the Mets, fucking up and fucking around, and clipped sound bits of band members chatting between studio takes and sound checks. While the first half of The New Abnormal leans heavily on the synth-disco moments, the latter half digs deep into the group’s emotional core in a way we haven’t yet heard on previous albums. “Not The Same Anymore” shows off Julian’s rare knack for storytelling with confessional lyrics about his own immaturity and dark moments of violence.
“Why Are Sundays So Depressing?” – a track whose title recalls The Smiths – doesn’t really answer that eternally evocative question, but is one of the most reflective and nostalgic on the record. As if trying to invoke the early days of The Strokes’ inception, Albert Hammond Jr.’s guitar is its most classically distorted here. Imagine sentiments of lost friends and painful regret to the tune of the grimy guitar bits on Is This It and Room On Fire.
The final song on the record is also its best. “Ode to the Mets” begins with sparse, melancholic rhythms and ends with a triumphant and epic outro to rival any album closer. Julian captures some of his greatest lyrics in over a decade with lines like “Old friends, long forgotten / The old ways at the bottom of / the ocean now has swallowed / The only thing that’s left is us.” For a brief moment, you can’t help but be reminded that The Strokes kickstarted the huge post-punk revival of the early 2000s; and they’re one of the few remaining artists from that era making a go at creating art for big audiences.
It’s a somber truth that leaves you with a bittersweet feeling. The Strokes once represented the punkiest version of young, dirty New York. Now, their newest record, released 19 years after their debut, was recorded alongside Rick Rubin at the Shangri-La recording studio in Malibu, California. That being said, this unique juxtaposition is what makes the record so memorable. Can the post-punk rock godfathers still remember the graffitied streets of Alphabet City while recording clean vocals and ’80s synths out by the beach? Is it possible to craft polished indie pop hits alongside raw and confessional tracks occasionally punctuated by Julian, mid-song, quietly asking Fabrizio Moretti to come in with the drums? Honestly, it appears that The Strokes figured it out. I’m not sure how, but I’ll confidently join them on the ride through the new abnormal.
The New Abnormal rating: 8.5/10
Highlights: “Ode to the Mets,” “Bad Decisions,” “Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus”
