It’s finally here! The long awaited new album ‘Angles’ from ‘The Strokes’, ever since I listened to ‘Under Cover of Darkness’ I’ve been waiting for this album, after all, it has been six years since their last one, but was it worth the wait?
There are a few songs on this album which I absolutely love, and the first one has to be the opening song ‘Machu Picchu’, it has lots of lively guitar and an odd Jamaican sound to it, even with Julian Casablancas’ voice which is completely different to anything I’ve heard from them before. This is one of those songs which you just can’t stop listening to, the beat is totally infectious and it has a catchy chorus which I’m a bit of a sucker for I must admit. It doesn’t fit in with the rest of the album, but in a way this doesn’t matter because it works well as a standalone track; they should definitely release this as their next single.
Next is the single ‘Under Cover of Darkness’, which again, I can’t get enough of. The guitar is energetic and definitely the driving force of the song, coupled with Casablancas’ energetic yet slightly monotone voice, it’s a tune you can’t stop listening to. You can definitely feel the emotion and passion coming through in the lyrics, specifically the line ‘we’ve got the right to live, fight to use it, got everything and you can just choose it.’
As the album progresses it seems to me that the more exciting songs are the ones which I prefer, this is my personal opinion but for me I like that they’re trying new things and experimenting a little. They appear to be doing this in ‘Taken for fool’, the vocals in particular are exquisite, and they’re so passionate and rough that they almost gave me Goosebumps. The chorus sounds a bit like their old work, but with a new edgier twist which I like, one of my favourites for sure.
‘Two kinds of Happiness’ is a bit of an unusual one, it starts off sounding like it should be on a 'Police' album, I think this is down to the beat, but then the vocals come in and this changes immediately, it does sound like they’ve slipped back into their old, slightly depressing, style so it’s not the best, and after the hugely energetic opening two songs, it does fall flat a little which is disappointing.
‘You’re so right’ is by far the weirdest song of the bunch, occasionally sounding like a song from ‘The Mighty Boosh’ due to it having that same rhythm and robotic style vocals, really strange and not something I’d expect to hear from ‘The Strokes’. This changing of the vocals doesn’t work very well to be honest, it sounds too out of place and the guitar isn’t up to their usual standard, however it is quite energetic and when they slip back into normality it gets a bit better.
The final song on the album ‘Life is simple in the moonlight’ (a lovely title I must add) is mellowed down a little, but in a way which is relaxed and composed, the song starts with a slightly psychedelic feel to it. I love the chorus where Casablancas’ voice works its wonders again, singing catchy, lovely lyrics, great finish I think.
This album has its up and downs, I don’t think it competes with ‘Is This It’ but there are some truly great tracks which have a whole new energy to them, and the vocals on these tracks are definitely a step up from their previous work. I’ve been a fan of The Strokes for a long time so it doesn’t take a lot for them to impress me, and by and large they did, but they miss the mark on a few of the tracks, still worth a listen though.
