Fourth studio album by the accled American alternative rock
group. Their first new release since 2006's 'First Impressions of
Earth', the album was described by bassist Nikolai Fraiture as 'a
return to basics', and includes the single 'Under Cover of
Darkness'.
BBC Review
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Time isn’t kind to the cool. Disappear for too long, and nobody
bats an eyelid when you return, fanfare conspicuous by its utter
absence. Arriving over five years since their last LP, 2006’s
First Impressions of Earth, white-hot-back-when NYC combo The
Strokes could have so easily found themselves piled beside the
likes of Razorlight and Toploader in the pile of re-emerging
artists probably without a place in 2011. But they’ve avoided
such a e by putting together what might actually be their very
best record yet.
Yes, you read that right: Angles isn’t just the equal of the
band’s lightning-in-a-bottle debut of 2001, Is This It, it might
be better. There are several moments here where the five-piece
exhibit an infectious immediacy that’s presented in parallel with
some genuine ingenuity, and the effect on the listener is to stop
what they’re doing, focus fully on what’s unfolding, and then
rewind to hear it over again. Take the strutting punk-funk bass
of Two Kinds of Happiness – unremarkable in isolation, but
soldered to sprightly percussion and real yearning in Julian
Casablancas’ voice, as well as some frenetic six-string
fret-work, it’s a vital constituent of a whole that’s fairly
flabberting. If rendered graphically, one would have to
picture early U2 and Talking Heads on a seesaw with The National
acting as a fulcrum.
Taken for a Fool harks back in production tonality to the
scratchy lo-fi charm of Is This It, but flexes significantly
developed melodic muscles compared to a decade ago – this is a
track, one amongst several, that will bury itself into one’s head
for the long-term after even the most fleeting of encounters. It
isn’t the only number here with a new-wave feel to it – and this
move from 1970s garage revivalism to mining the cooler sounds of
the 1980s for elements of inspiration pays serious dividends.
Games opens like New Order in their prime, all glossy synths and
solid bass, and closer Life is Simple in the Moonlight takes cool
keyboards reminiscent of Scandinavian pop-experimentalists Mew
and hits 88 miles per hour ‘til they’ve arrived back in 85.
Casablancas doesn’t sound like a metar at any point – he’s
hungry, scrappy, like a newcomer ahead of the hype crest. For the
first time since Is This It, he sounds a part of the gang rather
than the stand-apart leader of it.
Truly, there’s so much to love about Angles that picking it apart
seems as ridiculous as dissecting an expensive tray of
chocolates, setting fillings aside from their delicious casings.
They, like this record, taste far better with everything properly
combined – and with all five members contributing, in harmony,
The Strokes have here upped their own ante like nobody could have
foreseen. Except for the band members themselves, of course.
Prepare to be smitten anew.
--Mike Diver
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