Album Review: The Strokes Try To Escape Reality With 'The New Abnormal'

In the midst of present-day turmoil, a group of millennial indie-rockers from New York City reminisce on their youth, love, and living in the city, while addressing their disdain for the current worldly situation.

Written by Micaela Garza

From the moment it was released, it was clear that indie rock band The Strokes’ The New Abnormal was going to serve a greater purpose: it’s the soundtrack to the current worldly disarray — a global pandemic, political unrest, and a dying planet. The band recorded with producer Rick Rubin in the midst of the catastrophic 2018 California wildfire season, and the album’s title is inspired by California Governor Jerry Brown’s public remark that mother nature’s wrath seems to be “the new abnormal.” In a way, this chaotic and pivotal era really is “the new abnormal,” and this album is the feel-good, hopeful, and nostalgic soundtrack we all needed to get through it.

Upon first listen, this album offers a comforting feeling, as though you’ve heard it before in another dimension. This is in large part thanks to the timeless vocal stylings of Julian Casablancas. Sensual and sultry spoken-word verses juxtaposed against choruses sung in a sweet, serenading head voice create a familiar formula that Casablancas has used throughout the band’s repertoire, and it makes an appearance on the album’s first track “The Adults Are Talking.” The band opens their album up with lyrical criticism, rebelling against different “higher-ups” in their life. They chastise politicians, business executives in the music industry, and at the end, their fans, many of whom stay nostalgic for the group’s 20-year-old garage-band sound: “maybe that’s a kooky situation / so let’s go back to the old key, old tempo, everything.” The band makes it very clear that they have a lot to say about what’s going on around them, and this album is their response, with Casablancas singing, “I’m gonna say what’s on my mind / Then I’ll walk out / Then I’ll feel fine” on the album’s closing track “Ode To The Mets.”

In an obvious ode to an era they feel nostalgic for, the album is riddled with ‘80s references and synths, along with music credits by famous ‘80s names like Billy Idol and Tim Butler, co-founder of The Psychedelic Furs. “Bad Decisions,” a bouncy and up-tempo protest against fans upset with their musical transformation, features a chorus with the same melody as “Dancing With Myself” by famous ‘80s band Gen X. “Eternal Summer” features tribal-sounding drums and a guitar-plucked melody reminiscent of “The Hustle” by Van McCoy underneath Casablancas chanting lyrics in the stylings of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.” The song has a vaporwave conclusion after a cacophonic interlude and is a mesmerizing six minute experience. It’s perfectly placed in the middle of this trip of an album, with imagery in the chorus to match: “I can’t believe it / This is the eleventh hour / Psychedelic / Life is such a funny journey.”

Despite its title, “Why Are Sundays So Depressing” is not a question, but a statement. The simple song centers around a main guitar riff as Casablancas reflects on his past relationships. He toys with the concept of time in multiple lyrics, singing, “I want your time / Don’t ask me questions,” and “I’ve come to believin’ / That too much time is evil.” Sundays are the prime time to get in your feelings — they’re the point in the week when things slow down, getting ready to start back over again. The lifelessness of the world on a Sunday is depressing, and in these uncertain times, every day feels like a Sunday. “Not The Same Anymore” is Casablancas’ second self-reflection. It features a mechanical downward strumming pattern along with a slower tempo that contrasts well with the repetitive chorus, where Casablancas speaks in a train-of-thought style. His lyrics shed light on the dark side of his past relationships and help send the album to its epically melancholy conclusion, an “ode” to the city they’re from.

“Ode To The Mets” starts out with pop-synths that deceive the listener, fading behind a sad guitar and even more haunting pan-flute sounds that build up to an epic conclusion, where the musical and lyrical elements present in the other eight tracks of this album come together. The outro of this song is the most haunting part of the entire record. Decoding the cryptic lines of his own message, Casablancas accepts aging and finishes reminiscing on the past, “Gone now are the old times / Forgotten, time to hold on the railing / The Rubik's Cube isn't solving for us / Old friends, long forgotten.” But he returns to the idea around which this album is centered — the Earth as we know it is changing in the worst way — and reminds listeners that the only thing that can fix it is us and our choice to be vocal in our protest of this change, instead of silent and complacent:

“The old ways at the bottom of
The ocean now has swallowed
The only thing that's left is us
So pardon the silence that you're hearing
It's turnin' into a deafening, painful, shameful roar.”

In a dramatic twist of fate, Senator Bernie Sanders — an avid supporter of the Green New Deal legislation addressing climate change, and the candidate that the band endorsed in the 2020 presidential primary election — dropped out of the presidential race just a few days shy of the album release. Along with that, New York City has fallen victim to mass casualties caused by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. When your city is suffering, your country’s politics are questionable, and the Earth is dying, day-dreaming about better days is what we’re all doing. With this record, The Strokes have created a masterpiece of rebellious protest and sentimental escapism that fluidly blends together, creating the soundtrack to the “new abnormal” era in history that we are living in.

REVIEWSAfterglow ATXApril 17, 2020