The Strokes have breezed through the past decade with a sense that they are on semi-hiatus. Their only album in that period, 2020’s stunning ‘The New Abnormal’, had its touring cycle stunted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although they did play as many as 38 shows in 2022, activity has been scattered. An ever-candid Julian Casablancas admitted he “stepped away a little a bit” from a band who drifted apart in the early 2010s and, at one point, were “together solely for financial reasons”.
Such honesty is welcome from The Strokes, given they could easily rake it in touring only their first three albums until the cows come home. But creativity has to come from a place of authenticity; Casablancas released 2024’s futuristic ‘Like All Before You’ album with The Voidz, while guitarist Albert Hammond Jr swapped New York City for Los Angeles and unveiled his 19-track solo opus ‘Melodies On Hiatus’ in 2023. That same year, he confirmed to NME that the band were “working on another record”, after Rick Rubin spilled news of Costa Rica studio sessions in late 2022.
Yesterday (April 7), the first fruit of those sessions, presumably, fell from the tree: ‘Going Shopping’, taken from their seventh album ‘Reality Awaits’ (due June 26). If reality awaits, then perhaps ‘Going Shopping’ is the great escape. “The worse reality gets, the less you wanna hear about it,” croons Casablancas, his voice draped with intense, Voidz-esque autotune. He jabs at those absorbed by self-interest (“solidarity can be difficult / when you got cool stuff to lose”) and the late-stage capitalism that’s got us “building future ruins” and destroying the planet in this search for “greatness”.
But even Casablancas occasionally dabbles in escapism, running “away to the country” before “the city” calls him back to “soothe [his] soul” with a trip to the mall. There, he seems at his most detached, babbling about becoming a “seven-foot starfish”. The lyrical threads jump around, blurring fact with fiction, which is mirrored in the duality of the artwork: The Big Apple locked in outer space, surrounded by the rings of Saturn.
Shrewd lyricism aside, the sound of ‘Going Shopping’ holds it back. The AutoTune is unshakeably jarring, lacking the human touch that Casablancas’ long-standing use of vocal effects usually retains. The same can be said about Hammond Jr and Nick Valensi’s cutesy guitars, missing the urgency that even their most summery tones (‘Selfless’, ‘Someday’) achieved. Perhaps by design, ‘Going Shopping’ coasts along through the mall, but everything feels a little too straightforward and lukewarm.
Although ‘Going Shopping’ doesn’t feel bold, it does avoid playing anything safe. You couldn’t definitively place its sound on any of The Strokes’ previous six albums, but the lack of spirit and tenacity – save for a guitar solo at the end – is noticeable. “If you’re better than me you don’t have to judge me,” signs off Casablancas, with an imaginary raised eyebrow. But perhaps even he would admit that The Strokes are better than this.