Stroking The ’80s With Julian Casablancas

After the painfully awkward last Strokes album First Impressions Of Earth came out in 2006, the tide seemed to shift away from the New York quintet and it seemed as if even the Strokes had tired of themselves. Fab Moretti, Albert Hammond Jr. and Nikolai Fraiture all soon took off to work on their respective side-projects, while frontman Julian Casablancas seemed content to make little more than the occasional guest-vocal appearances on Danger Mouse and Saturday Night Live albums – until now.

The lead Stroke has returned with Phrazes For The Young, his first solo effort – a spotty affair with overtones of jittery ’80s synth pop and ancient automated beats. The album is meant to be a New York-tinged fun retro-party, and certainly succeeds at that. I dare you to try not to envision Flock Of Seagulls hairstyles and paisley Z. Cavaricci pants during 11th Dimension, a shameless strobe-dance kiss-pop jam with an infectious chorus that arrives like a Strokes precursor.

4 Chords Of The Apocalypse is a good vocal display from the man, but the beat frenzy is out of place in the lovesick ballad that serves as a cheap-leather-jacket cousin to the Skyliners’ classic Since I Don’t Have You. Tracks like Left & Right In The Dark and drinkin’-hole ode Ludlow St. may be deliberately heavy-handed on the cheese, but once the indulgence is granted there are some endearing melodies. Not the kind you’d ever want to listen to if you weren’t a Strokes fan, but for the chick who’s still in love with them, it’s not a far cry from heaven.

Any fans out there who may be questioning whether Casablancas is a Thom Yorke fan need only give a listen to River Of Brakelights, the bridge and chorus of which are direct stylistic lifts of the Radiohead frontman. There’s some redemption found in the skill of execution, but this track is an unquestionable ripoff right down to the drum track.

The simple groove and hook riff of Tourist would make for the best song on the album, if Julian hadn’t shifted to squealing synth keys midway through each verse and on into the chorus. That said, the song is saved by production alone, courtesy of Jason Lader and Bright Eyes / Monsters Of Folk artist Mike Mogis. The clean-and-pretty treatment saves Phrazes For The Young from being the cassette demo it would otherwise sound like, and may be the perfect addition to a hipster’s New York flat, but at eight songs it feels a bit incomplete, regardless of production and scene cred.

Phrazes For The Young
October 27
Cult/RCA

1. Out Of The Blue
2. Left & Right In The Dark
3. 11th Dimension
4. 4 Chords Of The Apocalypse
5. Ludlow St.
6. River Of Brakelights
7. Glass
8. Tourist