Music Reviews

The Strokes' "The New Abnormal" Is Perfect Apocalypse Rock

How things have changed since the Strokes debuted "Bad Decisions" and "At the Door" at a Bernie Sanders rally.

The Strokes didn't have to make The New Abnormal.

They could've easily hidden away in their suburban homes, working on their own more avant-garde solo side projects. But the band is New York City born and bred, and they've never abandoned the cosmopolitan anxiety that fueled their first album and launched them into mythical stardom. If anything, that anxiety is worse than ever on their latest album, which is the band's first offering since 2013.

The Strokes are used to releasing music at politically tense times; their first album was delayed by 9/11. In the wake of that disaster, the band's first album gained them reverential worship; they were crowned as saviors of rock and roll, given almost godlike status. Their songs about apathy and fractured relationships resonated with every newly minted indie kid looking to reclaim the New York City they'd read about, as well as everyone looking for an opportunity to throw on some Converse and dance the night away in those unstable times.

Today, The New Abnormal arrives in the midst of a different type of instability. There will be no dancing to these songs, at least not for a while and not outside of the confines of our bedrooms. There won't be any world tours for the foreseeable future.

Still, the album feels tailor-made for quarantine, oddly perfect for playing during another night in. In its chaotic, sometimes nonsensical, overtired, magnetic way, it feels at ease with what might be described as pandemic energy.

Perhaps that's because, as Amanda Petrusich writes in The New Yorker, "The Strokes' music makes everything feel less high-stakes." This might be why it sounds so good in an emergency," she continues. "Nothing is ever so unbearable that it can't be shrugged off. People arrive and depart, relationships begin and fracture, things are lost, parties get boring—whatever. Casablancas's songs briefly make a person feel like she's just a little bit above it all, worn out in a sexy, oblique way, rather than in the usual gutted, ugly way. 'The room is on fire as she's fixing her hair,' Casablancas sang, on 'Reptilia,' a track from Room on Fire, the follow-up to Is This It." In the quarantine era, when domestic struggles and the horrific headlines that capture the burning outside world seem to be constantly duetting, that lyric seems extra accurate; then again, when isn't it indicative of the human condition? When haven't we been fixing our hair as the world burns?

That's not to say the Strokes are against action or anti-hope. Frontman Julian Casablancas has often called for the downfall of capitalism, and the band debuted two of their new songs at a Bernie Sanders rally in New Hampshire, when his campaign was gaining critical momentum. But none of the songs are exactly powerhouse ballads about a better world; if anything, they seemed to predict the eventual decline of Sanders' campaign.

The cosmic, existential "At the Door" (which they debuted there, including its animated music video) seems to be about a breakup and climate change, albeit in equally vague ways. An almost unbearably pretty, angelic synth sets the chorus on a more psychedelic track, and the lyrics "I'll be waiting for the old times / Waiting for the tide to rise" couldn't be more accurate descriptors of how many of us are feeling nowadays.

Other album highlights include "The Adults Are Talking," a strong opener that features the Strokes' typically rebellious anti-authority ethos. "Stockholders," Casablancas spits, "Same sh*t." It's a short line that sounds both eternally relevant and extra-important in this moment in time.

The final track, "Ode to the Mets," might be the best on the album. Its final lyrics at last relinquish the nostalgia that the whole album has been entertaining, leaning into a more jaded mindset that feels a bit like release. "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 hearin' / It's turnin' into a deafening, painful, shameful roar," Casablancas mumbles at the end of the song as it billows off into a dreamy, impressionistic collection of wild synths and guitar growls.

Those don't sound like lyrics written by people who believed Bernie Sanders would win. Instead they sound like they were written by a very tired, very anxious rock band, which—whether out of a desire to make more money or a desperate need to create or most likely, some fusion of the two—continues to make beautiful, imperfect music in times of great fear and uncertainty.

The old times are never coming back, but it seems that the Strokes have returned for good. The band's music has always possessed some sort of intangible x-factor, an internal energy that distinguishes them from the rest. Something about them—be it their riffs, or melodies, or in the band's overall synergy—has a way of catching at the heartstrings, no matter what disaster we're collectively living through.

Parts of The New Abnormal are so beautiful that they're capable of pulling the listener out of the fray of the world entirely and into a more beautiful landscape that looks like the best possible version of the future. If the future looks anything like a Strokes song sounds, that would be a better world indeed.

New Releases

The Strokes Are Lonely on New Song "Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus"

The rock band's sixth album, The New Abnormal, is out this week.

We might not have dine-in restaurants, the freedom to gather in groups, or toilet paper, but even as the world falls apart, we still have the Strokes.

Not long after headlining a massive New Year's Eve show at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, the iconic New York City rockers might have put their tour dates on hold, but they aren't letting public health crises halt the release of their upcoming album. The Strokes' appropriately-titled sixth album, The New Abnormal, is set to arrive this Friday as usual. Following lead singles "At the Door" and "Bad Decisions," they've shared another, titled "Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus."

"Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus" dives headfirst into the '80s pop aesthetics that the Strokes have only dipped their toes into prior. Introduced by a jabbing, staccato synth line, it seems to take cues from frontman Julian Casablancas' other band, the Voidz. However, by the time the dueling guitar lines arrive at the chorus, "Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus" also feels reminiscent of earlier Strokes work from their First Impressions of Earth or Angles eras. Nevertheless, Casablancas' instantly recognizable croon takes the forefront.

The song squares up its narrator's urges to socialize against an inclination to self-isolate. "I want new friends, but they don't want me," Casablancas sings. "They're making plans while I watch TV / Thought it was you, but maybe it's me / I want new friends, but they don't want me." It feels topically relevant almost to an alarming degree; but, when all of this blows over, "Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus" can serve as a dark reminder of where we've been.

MUSIC

Kim Gordon Knows the "Recipe for a Better Future" in New Bernie Sanders PSA

The Sonic Youth founding member shared a parody cooking video that puts a fun spin on feeling the Bern.

Bernie Sanders and popular musicians pretty much go hand-in-hand at this point.

The senator's events have played host to a growing list of musical artists lately; indie darlings like Soccer Mommy and Lucy Dacus have opened for his rallies, as well as established bands like Vampire Weekend and the Strokes. If they're not sharing the stage with Bernie, musicians are likely otherwise endorsing him: Ariana Grande and Cardi B have both hung out with the presidential hopeful, and countless others have shared their support.

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The Strokes - Bad Decisions (Official Video)

Last night, the Strokes headlined a massive Bernie Sanders rally at the University of New Hampshire.

The legendary indie rock band took the stage before 7,500 Sanders-supporting students and volunteers, coming on after a stacked lineup that included Dr. Cornel West, Cynthia Nixon, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the indie band Sunflower Bean, and of course, the Senator from Vermont himself.

"This is no ordinary campaign," said Dr. West. "This is a movement that has a spiritual, strong coming together. It's part of the genius of Hebrew scripture—I don't care if you're Muslim, I don't care if you're Christian, I don't care if you're Buddhist, Hindu—it says the spreading of Hasid, the spreading of that steadfast love to the orphan, the widow, the fatherless, the motherless, the oppressed, the occupied, the dominated—it's rooted in the best of America… That's a moral and a spiritual dimension, and I thank god my dear brother Bernie Sanders has got the courage and the vision to bring us together."

"We're moving forward," said Ocasio-Cortez in her introductory speech for Sanders. "Forward to a multiracial democracy. Forward to guaranteed health care. Forward to a living wage. Forward to indigenous rights and honoring sovereignty. Forward! That's where we're gonna go! We're not going back to the days where people had to hide!"

Sanders is currently surging in nationwide polls and is expected to spar with Pete Buttigieg for the top spot in the New Hampshire primaries, which will be over by 7PM on Tuesday, February 11th. He took to the stage to cheers and the sound of "Power to the People," and delivered his typical invectives against the 1% and his calls for unity.

The Strokes, who performed last, remained relatively apolitical throughout their raucous set, which consisted of the infectious indie rock that made them into legends of the New York downtown scene in the early 2000s. They played some of their classics, like "Someday," and debuted a new song called "Bad Decisions." At one point, frontman Julian Casablancas announced that his album was coming out April 10th. At another, he launched into a tirade about pirates, who represent the "evil people" that "stole and r*ped for money" who "Bernie Sanders would knock out of office." He made sure to clarify that he meant "no disrespect to pirates" and added, "modern businesspeople? Way worse." The banter was strange, but the energy was undeniable.

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Near the end, Casablancas asked fans to look at a screen hanging above the audience. He then played a new song, "At the Door"—an autotune-heavy, synthy number reminiscent of his work with the Voidz—while a psychedelic animated video played in the background.

The video "At the Door" appears to follow several disparate science fiction-inspired storylines, and uses vintage Disney-style animation. There's a little boy who leaves his house with a Grim Reaper-type figure after watching his parents fight. There's a superhero-esque woman who kills her captors and embarks on a heroic journey in a racing car. There are a couple of rabbits reminiscent of Watership Down who are forced to run from both an enemy mutant rabbit and a massive dark sun. And then there are a host of aliens, who seem to live in a paradise world on the other side of the real one. Filled with starry, surreal imagery, the video blends science fiction and fantasy with reality and seems to present different possible futures, some apocalyptic and some Elysian.

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There are a lot of ways to read this video in the context of the rally. It could have little to do with the burgeoning political revolution that Sanders is leading. Then again, the rabbits, the little boy and the trapped woman could also represent some of the fear and suffering that occur in America—ecological disaster looms, suffering reigns, and mutations land people with incurable illnesses—and Sanders' campaign promises to fight these realities with environmental movements like the Green New Deal and beneficial programs like free college and Medicare for All.

Whether or not the Strokes' new video was a symbol of political revolution, it struck more than a few chords. But it was far from the end of the show. Casablancas had been complaining periodically that the lights had been turned on, and when someone told him that the cops were to blame, he launched into a version of the song "New York City Cops," an anti-police number. Perhaps frustrated by their presence and disruptiveness, and inspired by general frustration with cops, he invited audience members to jump onstage (much to the disdain of the present police).

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When the show finished, crowds poured outside and launched into an impromptu ice skating session on a frozen pond, writing "BERNIE 2020" in the snow.

Prior to the event, Casablancas released a more political statement that said, "We are honored to be associated with such a dedicated, diligent, and trustworthy patriot — and fellow native New Yorker… As the only truly non-corporate candidate, Bernie Sanders represents our only chance to overthrow corporate power and help return America to democracy. This is why we support him."

The Strokes—with their private school backgrounds and rockstar ethos—might not be the most obvious representatives of Sanders' campaign. But something in the gritty energy of their music seems to perfectly embody the spirit of hope and determination that's carried Sanders' campaign from obscurity to the front lines of the future.