A seven-year reflection period with time for other musical projects has not given The Strokes any wind. In early April, the New York-based cult band released their new record. Each new album was invariably compared to their iconic debut album Is This It and then concluded ‘that it wasn’t like it was in their early days’. But let’s leave that out for a second at The New Abnormal. On the record, fresh synths are regularly given way and we hear Julian Casablancas sing like never before. “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus” and opener “The Adults Are Talking” embody the new path the band is taking. Fortunately, the rattling guitars are not completely discarded and sound a lot more inspired than on their previous musical throws. Renewing without denying their roots, The Strokes did quite well on The New Abnormal.
The Strokes playing a slow-motion, dramatically heated game of baseball against a team of Terminator-like robots — possibly for the fate of the free world, possibly just as a Beer League scrimmage? Sure, why not: Like every other successful move The Strokes have made in their middle age as a band, the “Adults Are Talking” video follows its own logic and just goes for it, making sense sheerly through the group’s singular brand of try-not-that-hard self-confidence. Patterning their uniforms after the Houston Astros instead of their (maybe?) beloved Mets is one decision they’re gonna have to answer for back home, though.
The Strokes ‘The New Abnormal’ Available Now