The Strokes | Feature Artist

We’re six years on from ‘The New Abnormal’, and it’s aged perfectly. It has everything one would want from a Strokes record in the 2020’s with great performances and tracks to boot.

We’d say it’s now one of the last incredible rock records pre-COVID. It simultaneously documents political turmoil, systemic distrust, and dissociation before it became exactly what the title prophesied. It’s something that the band appears to have doubled down on in the wake of the closing moments of their Coachella set.

And this is before the fact that the album is just great from start to finish. Nine incredibly punchy and focused tracks that show more direction and focus than the band has had since ‘Room On Fire’. The Rick Rubin production, the Basquiat artwork, the Billy Idol ripoff, it's got all the hallmarks of a big-budget rock record and sticks the landing.

The sonic range on the record is brilliant, as well as there’s so much quiet melancholy on ‘Selfless’ that it borders on Slacker Rock with its arpeggiated guitars and synth leads. ‘Bad Decisions’ and ‘Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus’ are two amazing tracks that have remained in our rotation since their release. And the closer ‘Ode to the Mets’ wraps up everything that’s magic about this one.

Existential, political, slick and still, the Strokes. This one is worth going back to if you haven’t already. It’ll go down as one of the best rock efforts of the 2020’s, and with ‘Reality Awaits’ due in a month, hopefully the band can follow through.

#vinyl #thenewabnormal #thestrokes