The Strokes

First Impressions of Earth

By Brett Oronzio                                                                                                  

The Strokes third and make-or-break release does one thing that no album, especially from the so-called ‘Saviors of Rock,’ should ever do. The new disc bores its audience, even when ignoring the hype associated with the band. Sure, the first couple of tracks from First Impressions of Earth immediately arrest the listener with their urgency, but the sounds quickly transform into stale and undeveloped ideas, tough to get through, even on the first listen, without skipping over multiple tracks.

 The kick-off song and one of the few redeeming moments here, “You Only Live Once” acts as a confident launch with all the good-natured and care-free qualities that legions of fans associated with The Strokes 2001 debut, Is This It, as well as their under-appreciated sophomore release Room on Fire. The crisp, clear production allows singer Julian Casablancas’ voice to seize center stage with the band’s trademark nonchalant swagger. Without reaching over their heads, The Strokes give us a simplistic verse-chorus-verse set-up. They don’t even serve us up a bridge or a solo. In a moment of glory the band proves they still possess the same effortless instincts from their debut. Unfortunately, the tone takes a drastic turn and reveals a group of guys trying too hard to find a happy medium between their original foundation and their expected growth. 

 No one expects Casablancas’ lyrics to floor us with their complexity. The Strokes never took themselves too seriously to begin with. But here, the extremely casual approach towards their music grows irritating and Casablancas’ words die on arrival. On “Ask me Anything” the man even admits to us, “I’ve got nothing to say.” As part of the chorus, he repeats this line numerous times, exposing a band declaring an end to whatever message they once relayed. Some may say that The Strokes never had anything significant to say anyway, but at least they said it with some attitude and a reasonable amount of pomp.

 The band still keeps it as tight as ever. Drummer Fab Moretti and Bassist Nikolai Fraiture offer a solid rhythmic bed acting as an invitation for the dueling guitars of Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi. Some songs such as the first single, “Juicebox” grow on you over time, but in total barely three tracks stand out. Songs such as the tedious “On the Other Side,” and the drawn-out “Killing Lies” blend together leaving little recall of their melodies after the album runs its course. The length hurts the record as well. Whereas The Strokes’ two previous albums contain 11 songs each with running times of approximately 35 minutes, First Impressions of Earth drags along with 14 tracks, and clocks in at 52 minutes.

 The album’s problematic issues vary so that the finger of blame can’t point in one direction. Naturally, the hype factor hurts these guys and always will. We should also take into account that The Strokes changed producers for this album, from minimalist Gordon Raphael to the more polished David Kahne. The trials for a little growth through experimentation present themselves throughout the work, but they never cohere. As a whole, the album winds up being a jumble because while The Strokes demonstrate no significant growth, they also forget what made them interesting in the first place.