The Strokes have taken a bold step forward on The New Abnormal, their first LP since 2013’s Comedown Machine. This album isn’t ushering-in a revolution for the music world, nor is this the long-awaited salvation of Rock that people have expected from this quintet. What it does offer is a band focused on being a real band together again and one that’s finally running on all cylinders. With the legendary Rick Rubin as its producer, this is the best album The Strokes have released since their classic period, which was capped by 2006’s First Impressions of Earth, giving us fans a bit of hope that the show ain’t stopping yet when it comes to these guys.
If you’ve followed this band in the slightest bit or even if you’re just aware of the chatter that surrounds their every move, you’ll understand why many will either focus on how different this album sounds from what they’d expected or how the output still doesn’t live up to the hype that has always revolved them, so this album can’t be taken seriously.
What I am taking away from The New Abnormal is that the group has finally started to figure out how to collaborate and that they’ve learned to evolve their sound while staying true to their essence. They made a creative decision to leave a bit of studio chatter at the end of some songs, which puts on display how friendly they are toward each other and aren’t just putting out an album for contractual reasons. It also helps to demystify a group that has both been revered and trashed for their entire existence. They’re back to being dudes just playing some tunes they hope you enjoy.
Check out our Top 5 Tracks on The New Abnormal below.
“The Adults Are Talking”
The opening number is not only one of the best songs on the new album. I would argue that it merits a spot among the top 10 of tracks The Strokes have ever put out. This song was one that fans had already gotten a chance to hear when the band debuted it at a benefit show last year. It was received warmly by fans and many worked quickly to convert the live footage into something that sounded like a studio version. Now that we have the real thing, you get to appreciate it for all that it has to offer. The mechanical precision of Fab’s drums, an irresistible riff from Albert Hammond Jr., guitars that interlock and dance a beautiful choreography, and some fine vocals from Jules that include a falsetto that can challenge what he brings to “One Way Trigger.”
The lyrics can easily apply to a political framing in which the central figure seems too good to be true when the audience hears them say everything they want to hear, only to ultimately fail to deliver on all that promise. I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the parallels of this storyline and what the band itself has felt throughout its career. Initially treated as the saviors of Rock, they redefined what it meant to be cool in the new millennium and opened the door for a ton of great bands all while releasing two stellar albums and a third that had many great tunes as well. But no matter what they did to step up to the role of being the best group of the decade , they were never recognized by all the traditional measures of success like record sales, chart-topping singles, or awards. In the opening verse, Casablancas sings:
They’ve been sayin’ you’re sophisticated
They’re complainin’, overeducated
You are saying all the words I’m dreaming
Say it after me
Say it after me
They will blame us, crucify and shame us
We can’t help it if we are a problem
We are tryin’ hard to get your attention
I’m climbin’ up your wall
Climbin’ up your wall
And in the outro you hear:
Stockholders
Same shit, a different life
I’ll get it right sometime
Oh, maybe not tonight
Now tell me that’s not a band painfully aware that they will never be the Rock gods you expect them to be.
“Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus”
The most distinctive part here is the synthesizer riff that smacks you right when the song starts playing. The tone feels a little too neon for my taste, but those Synth-Pop meets Disco portions of the tune still pop so nicely. The more you play this track, the synths start feeling less intrusive as you get down to everything else that does work. The lyrics provide these instantly-quotable words:
I want new friends, but they don’t want me
They’re making plans while I watch TV
Even phrased in the simplest of terms, you know how this stings. Casablancas, who is recently divorced, further turns the spotlight on himself and his own shortcomings as he name-drops his ex wife in between lines about the endless cycle one enters when looking for the impossible answer to “where did it/I go wrong?”
“Bad Decisions”
The track is unapologetically trying to capture some of that New Wave magic, so much so that it credits Billy Idol as a writer for the similarities you find with the latter’s iconic “Dancing With Myself.” On top of all that nostalgic candy, the track does boast radio-friendly appeal thanks to its anthemic chorus that argues making bad decisions feels like such a good idea. The tension created in the post-chorus is my favorite part in this one, with Julian singing “Pick up your gun” and the guitars darting back and forth together for a riff that fits in perfectly with the traditional Strokes sound.
“Why Are Sundays So Depressing”
Side A of The New Abnormal features the heartier songs from the album, while Side B sees the band slow the pace as they tackle more emotional issues. Track #7 is one of its standouts on the second half. This mid-tempo track is the best example of how The Strokes can benefit from being more democratic. You can hear so much of Albert Hammond Jr’s touch in this song, from the slicing riff that opens the song to the stuttering effect on the guitar lick that comes in after the first chorus and in the outro. This song would fit right in with the best melodies that came out of AHJ’s 2018 solo effort Francis Trouble, now with a little more teeth, as you should expect when you get Julian Casablancas and Rick Rubin involved. It’s hard to ignore the robotic detours we have to take in the hook, but with the band no longer meticulously pursuing the kind of perfection achieved on Is This It, I won’t fixate on that either.
Lyrically, “Not The Same Anymore” tells a far better sad story and even sounds more Strokesian, but it’s the musicality they explore on “Sundays” that pushes it into my top 5. Plus, I can’t say I wasn’t charmed by the lines “My baby’s gone, but I don’t miss her / Like a swan, I don’t miss swimming” in the first verse.
“Ode to the Mets”
The slow-burning closer is such a beauty and it’s the perfect way to finish this album experience. The Strokes introduced the world to this one as “a future deep cut” at their New Year’s Eve show. Well let me tell ya, this is no deep cut. Julian Casablancas croons better than he’s crooned before, with the presence of a Frank Sinatra for the modern age. The keys deserve a lot of praise here too, driving the whole misery meets fleeting optimism vibe. You try to fix things and you hope that you don’t crack, but disappointment is all too familiar with you for it to fail to make its scheduled appearance. The narrative encapsulates a back and forth where there are never any winners, drawn out until you’ve run out of things to lose.
The climactic outro provides the final bit of brilliance. It builds and builds until you fall from the edge and you learn that nothingness aches so much more than the painful events that had led you there. You will feel the agony and defeat in Julian’s vocals when he sings, “So pardon the silence that you’re hearing /It’s turnin’ into a deafening, painful, shameful roar,” and you’ll like it.
