Album Review: The Strokes - 'The New Abnormal'
Why are Sundays so depressing? The Strokes are looking back to 80s synth to answer that and more with their upcoming album, The New Abnormal.
The New Abnormal is the band’s sixth studio album and their first in seven years. This time they’ve returned with a legendary producer in tow: Rick Rubin, a man whose list of affiliated bands ranges from Run-DMC and LL Cool J, to Johnny Cash and Tom Petty.
Like Rubin, The Strokes came from the same New York University/East Village college scene, though there were a few years between them. Namely, the 80s, an era that became synonymous with synth, synth, and more synth. On The New Abnormal, The Strokes pay tribute to the glory days of 80s sound.
“I want new friends, but they don’t want me/ They’re making plans while I watch TV/ Thought it was you, but maybe it’s me/ I want new friends, but they don’t want me,” leader singer Julian Casablancas says on their single “Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus,” perhaps referring to some of the heightened tensions within the band members during the last few years. The song includes half-spoken vocals like Real McCoy, and, yes, plenty of popping synth riffs.
“80’s bands, where did they go? Can we switch into the chorus right now? Casablancas asks, simultaneously lamenting the loss of 80s pop power and also keeping things meta.
Another single, “Bad Decisions” sounds eerily like The Cure’s “Friday, I’m In Love” or Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself”, another potential nod to the greats of the past. Indeed Casablancas’s voice isn’t all too distant from Robert Smith’s or Morrissey’s.
But it isn’t all artificial sound. With dissonant chords and mismatching rhythms, The New Abnormal keeps listeners on their toes, but some wailing riffs from guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. remind listeners of their rock roots. Their rhythm follows Casablancas vocals as he practically slurs some of his words and leads us through his stream of consciousness.
The Strokes are, at their core, New Yorkers. It wouldn’t be a proper album of theirs without some 70’s-John-Lennon-level cynicism. Lest audiences forget: this is the same band that wrote the famous “New York City Cops,” a track that flat-out called them “not so smart.”
“A child prisoner grows up to see his enemy’s throat cut,” Casablancas sings on “Not The Same Anymore.”
On the final track, “Ode To The Mets,” a song that debuted last New Years Eve in Brooklyn, the band leaves some questions unanswered. “Drums please, Fab” Casablancas cues drummer Fabrizio Moretti to enter.
“Hope that you find it, hope that it's good, hope that you read it, think that you should.”
What is the “it” he’s referring to? That’s up to you.
Words by Allison Rapp