Charger Music Men review “The New Abnormal” and more

Gus Creter - Sophomore, Staff Writer; Parker Johnson - Sophomore, Staff Writer | Columns

The Strokes are an incredibly influential garage rock band that formed in 1998 in New York City. They single-handedly began the 21st century garage rock revival with their most popular album to date, “Is This It” in 2001. They released another album shortly after their commercial debut in 2003 titled “Room on Fire” to overwhelming success.

Their later albums were not reviewed nearly as highly as their first two projects, which ended up leading to the band’s hiatus after releasing their final record with their record label, RCA, dubbed “Comedown Machine.” The three year hiatus at the time was interrupted by The Strokes releasing a three song EP called “Future Present Past,” which never became a full length LP. Seven full years after “Comedown Machine” released, The Strokes announced and released their sixth studio album, “The New Abnormal.”

“The New Abnormal” is a new take on The Strokes’ signature style, mainly deviating from a consistent synergy of vocals, guitars, bass, and drums to a slightly more synthesizer- and electronic-based sound while still relying on their well known style. Some of this newfound style change can be attributed to the frontman and singer’s, Julian Casablancas, solo work which focuses on synthesizers and an electronic style compared to The Strokes work. This change of style can especially be heard on tracks such as “At The Door” and “Eternal Summer” where there is a heavy emphasis on the use of big and emotional synthesizers.

There is a major distinction especially for long-time Strokes fans on this album compared to previous projects present in Julian’s vocals. The most noticeable difference is the clarity of his vocals; Julian’s voice is no longer mixed super low, essentially meaning it’s incredibly hard to hear his voice, and you can clearly hear his lyrics with little to no effects. You want to hear the lyrics that Julian has to sing because it is by far the most mature and vocally expressive Strokes album to date.

There is something inherently satisfying about each song on “The New Abnormal,” whether it’s the smooth chord progressions, the pacing of each song, or even just Julian’s falsettos. A major distinction in what makes this album good is the synergy of instrumentation with vocals, as can especially be seen on tracks like “The Adults Are Talking,” “Selfless,” and “Ode To The Mets,” where the lead guitar can often be heard imitating the vocals to form a satisfying blend between melodies. The instrumentation is also incredibly enjoyable to listen to, from the frequent use of delay effects to make unusual and refreshing guitar lines or even just the selection of tone and timbre the instruments portray on the album.

The chemistry of the members of The Strokes hasn’t always felt the same since their earlier projects, but it has been clearly demonstrated in this album that The Strokes are back and better than ever with a very strong return after their seven year hiatus. The New Abnormal by The Strokes ended up having a combined score of 82.5%.

REVIEWS:

• The Strokes - The New Abnormal: G: 75% P: 95%

• Peach Pit - You and Your Friends: G: 65% P: 85%

• The Weeknd - After Hours: G: 75% P: 80%

• Dua Lipa - Future Nostalgia: G: 85% P: 80%

• Thundercat - It Is What It Is: G: 65% P: 60%

• Lil Uzi Vert - Eternal Atake: G: 55% P: 30%

Reviewing Process:

We have two main forms of rating an album: by rating each individual track and averaging the scores or by rating the album based on the feeling given off by multiple listens. We may not have the same feelings towards the albums, hence the term “joint score.”