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| 'The New Abnormal' - The Strokes (2020) |
News broke on February 11th that album six from The Strokes was finally coming, and the debut single, 'At The Door' was released. The song is HEAVY on the synthesiser, with that and very minute guitar work making up the instrumental. Julian has been no stranger to a synthesiser, with it playing a major part all the way back to 2009 in his solo record, and then through in his recent work with The Strokes and his side project The Voidz. But looking back in hindsight, considering they had guitar heavy and 'strokes sounding' songs like 'Bad Decisions' and 'The Adults Are Talking' ready to go, it is strange that they chose At The Door as the first teaser, but god, it just is brilliant. Julians voice has never sounded so crisp and clear, backed by an at times intense and emotional instrumental that makes up such a beautiful melodic piece, that on top of an impressive lineup, still remains my favourite off the entire record. "Sinkin' like a stone, use me like an oar, and get yourself to shore." It's a song that expresses themes of hopelessness, or feeling lost, or lonely. One that I'd truly consider a masterpiece, At The Door will be on repeat forever. Oh, and also to make it even better, the music video is incredible, watch it below!
The first half of the album blows you way with nostalgia if you're familiar with their work. The Adults Are Talking and Bad Decisions in my opinion could easily be added to either of the first two Strokes albums and not look at all out of place, with instantly catchy riffs and melodies, every single member of the band shines through. We first heard The Adults Are Talking last MAY(!), when the boys played their first show in two years, so hearing the studio version after almost a year of the same Youtube version of that first performance being played over and over again, was so satisfying. 'Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus' seems to channel a bit of an 'Angles' (The Stokes 4th LP) vibe, being quite 'dancy' and has a good equal balance of synth and guitar. I also like the informal-ness on this track which pops up now and again throughout the album, "and the 80's bands where did they go? Can we switch into the chorus right now?" It almost feels like a fourth wall break, very refreshing!
The last remaining two from the first half of the album are 'Selfless' and 'Eternal Summer', with the former seemingly becoming a fan favourite almost instantly. Selfless hasn't seemed to grab me as it has others, yet. It's one of the shortest on the album at 3 and a half minutes, (it's a long album!) but Julians talent at writing love songs can never be doubted, he's a wizard, but guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. does shine through here, with a wicked solo weirdly within the first third of the song. But more is to be said, about Eternal Summer. Wow. The longest on the LP at just over 6 minutes, is the grooviest thing The Strokes have ever written. I've always been a fan of multiple-songs-within-one, Green Day have done this a lot, and Julian has clearly practiced this in The Voidz, it's like every Voidz song is 10 songs there's that many changes. But back to Eternal Summer, it quickly changes from Julian's classic falsetto high pitched vocals with beautiful delay guitar work and drums into a raspy, very intense chant-like section. It's almost like Julian is shouting at you through the speaker, and then, another transition into honestly, one of the grooviest thing's I've ever heard. 'They got the remedy, but they won't let it happen', with a screaming guitar note behind it, man, it's f*cking unreal. Blew my mind when I first heard it. Eternal Summer was easily my favourite of the new batch of songs from when the album dropped, excluding singles like At The Door etc. But man, it's amazing! I'm running out of positive adjectives!
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| The Strokes Recording 'The New Abnormal' in Malibu. Credit to @TinaIbanez on Instagram |
The second half of the record is the slow half, prepare yourself for that moody sh*t. Beginning with At The Door, we then transition into 'Why Are Sunday's So Depressing' (in a Reddit Q&A, the band themselves confessed that the apostrophe in 'Sunday's' is a typo, ha!) and 'Not The Same Anymore'. To begin, WASSD does have that classic Julian vocal style of 'I don't care', you know what I mean? It's classic Julian, and this tune also has that familiar, albeit slow catchy guitar that will still have you snapping your finger along to it. Complete with an ear piercing solo and explosive ending, it's a tune, but I will admit that this along with the next song do seem to be overshadowed by the rest of the album, at least for me. Not The Same Anymore has brilliant lyrics, being addressed to someone, well, not being the same anymore, but the song then does turn self reflective, as Julian sings "I couldn't change, it's too late. And now it's time to show up. Late again, I can't grow up." He begins the song seemingly complaining about a persons persona changing, but then turns on himself, and expresses his own faults. It's poetic? I guess? Great guitar work on here too though.
But now finally, the closer, 'Ode To The Mets'. Like The Adults Are Talking, this was performed live a few months ago on New Years Eve, so it's been floating around Youtube for a bit. The studio version begins with a strange, and out of place beat which I don't know why was left in, it kills the moody opening for me, but you are quickly taken to this other world once that fades away and a beautiful guitar/synth combo comes together. During the original live performance, about a minute and a half into the song as Julian is singing over the instrumental, he pauses, and says, 'Drums please, Fab', seeming to remind drummer Fab Moretti to come in. He obviously just made a mistake, it was their first time playing this live... but it's in the bloody studio version! It's f*cking brilliant! Again bringing back that sort of fourth wall break style, not having everything polished! Obviously in the studio version it's planned, it's just a reference to the live version where Fab just forgot to come in, but god, there's something magical about it. Drums please, Fab, the beat comes in, and the song is off and running. A brilliant slow burner on which every member once again shines and Julian expresses emotions of love and, well, in all honesty what else does he sing about? "The only thing that's left is us, so pardon the silence that you're hearing, is turning into a deafening, painful, shameful roar." I wasn't crazy about this when I first heard the live version, but god, what a perfect closer to a brilliant album.
I've rambled and raved about this record for too many words now, but will continue to do so until it stops making me smile. It's an absolute beauty from top to bottom, that was 100% worth the wait and is a very welcome addition to the bands astonishing discography. This album must also be appreciated, simply for existing. Over the last five years Julians main focus has been The Voidz, with The Strokes members apparently not getting along too well over the last few years since the recording of Angles began. But having been lucky to have seen them perform live twice over the last year, they are happy, motivated, and clearly creatively blossoming as a band once again, and I along with the entire fanbase couldn't be happier about it. The New Abnormal gets a 9/10 from me, only shy of a perfect rating due to not every single track not utterly blowing me away, with tracks 7 & 8 underwhelming me, but as a whole, it will stand as one of their greatest creations, as the songs that did blow me away will stay with me forever. The Strokes are back, and hopefully here to stay. Thank you for reading.
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