The Strokes are to the 90s what the Rolling Stones were to the 70s. One of the most recognisable, brandable, and bankable faces of rock who were instantly termed “the saviours”. Probably every band you know or have liked since the 2000s has cited Casablancas and co. as one of their inspirations. This is a band made by the elite for the people with music that helped dissolve that distinction. They return to it in their latest album, Reality Awaits.
The shifting tides
To kick things off, we are not going to be comparing this album to Is This It. No doubt it’s an important and monumental album, but The Strokes have always wanted to tread new waters. The new abnormal in 2020 showed us that they can definitely do it and do it very well. They are not exactly consistent in the studio. Every few years the band takes an extended hiatus from putting out new music while still being a staple in concerts and music festivals. They are a redefined version of one of New York’s finest bands. Sounding run down, worn out, and fighting the big fight, even though the privileged five have never had to do it.
Studios in the stars, for the stars
And of course, they are signed with one of the biggest labels in the world. Recording in Malibu, Italy, Costa Rica, Siena and LA – the reality that awaits them is rarely as stark as yours or mine. Returning to legendary producer Rick Rubin, they plaster an appropriated ad of the Marlboro Man as their album cover. The studio discipline that they would host initially was due for a tectonic shift. Opening the album with Psycho Shit, there is a stripped-down guitar melody that leads you into this album. Julian’s vocals are run through an auto-tune as he climbs, scales, offers poetically intense phrases and discombobulates you throughout the track. Sorry, did I say autotune on this track? I meant most tracks on this album.
A vision in vox
How does this appeal to me as a conscious choice for someone who can actually sing well? Rick Rubin and the Strokes have decided that Julian needs to be expressing these lyrics only through the blending mess that is autotune. Contextually I feel auto-tune fits great on certain tracks and certain vibes. Let’s be real, a song like Dine ‘N’ Dash didn’t need autotune and, in classic Strokes fashion, sounds incredible. It has the tempo, the vibe, the kind of energy that you would expect them to carry after six years of not releasing an album. Then comes Lonely in the Future.
It’s the kind of groove that makes you want to flip your phone out and check Shazam. Yet I personally never would because autotune is a frequency magnet for me. Due to its odd nature, the tendency is only to focus on how it is being sung and what is being said. Especially for a genre like pop-rock, this is something that you need to get used to or should be open to experiencing. Nick, Albert, Nikolai and Fabrizio have the same chemistry and intensity like before. It is just Casablancas that I feel sorry for. When you’re playing “Falling Out of Love”, I couldn’t help but do the same for this album.
The experiment for now
It’s clear that Rick Rubin is encouraging this experimental phase for The Strokes. There are songs like Going to Babble On, where autotune resigns, if not just for a moment. Their grooves are as funky and recognisable as they’ve ever been, and the four-chord change is something you can lounge on even if you aren’t paying attention to the lyrics. As I stream this album, I notice the songs without auto-tune having more streams. Coincidence? I wonder.
I just want to take you back to 2013 when the band released the Comedown Machine. Not only was it an underwhelming record, it showed the tonal fabric of the band in some ways before their almost indefinite hiatus. However, this is also what made the album great, for a lot of internal fractures were captured in the album’s overall language very well. Nick Valensi is shown for recording credits but is mostly unavailable during live performances. So are you looking at another amazing album in 2029? I don’t know; they had a chance for one in 2026 but undercut the effort.
Where it falls, and flies
There are several “can skips” in this album, like Going Shopping. However, they are limited in appearance and still pogo-jumps us to a listenable album. It’s definitely not one in which I can keep my thumb away from the skip button. There are such interesting grooves in songs like The Fruits Of Conquest. I definitely found the 00s era charm to be locked in like the opening of an addictive Instagram video. As an experiment, they have made it an entertaining one, like watching elephant toothpaste being made. A colourful mess by all of The Strokes’ means.
I visited Julian Casablancas performing this on Stephen Colbert’s show. It’s the fourth track on the album, Falling Out of Love. It sounds different and deeply emotional, and the band seems like it’s connecting with the crowd. Perhaps there is something about hearing it live that makes it all the more emotionally devastating. As original songwriters, it will always be a great time to be a Strokes fan. We might get back to the falsetto we love so much and recognise. Reality Awaits shows us that you can miss the Strokes, and The Strokes can miss sometimes too. They’ll just make sure they deliver some stuff for the “greatest hits” collection while doing so:
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