The Strokes “Reality Awaits” Review
Written by Beau Croxton
The Strokes - Reality Awaits— out July 24th via Cult/ RCA Records
On Reality Awaits, The Strokes enjoy some well-earned, loose fun and lean into delightfully bizarre deviations that provide a very different ride from their Grammy-winning predecessor, The New Abnormal.
The Strokes are back with their seventh full length LP, Reality Awaits, which was recorded in Costa Rica and finished around the globe. Their producer Rick Rubin spoke fondly of the sessions back in 2023: Rubin said he had the band all jamming together outdoors as they faced the ocean on top of a mountain, and described it as a “magical experience”. You can only imagine the care-free and breezy vibe, and that's exactly what exudes through much of the record, as the band feels casual, creative and unburdened by audience expectations of their legacy. (Check out some BTS of the recording sessions with Rick Rubin in Costa Rica below!)
Reality Awaits is their second LP produced by Rick Rubin, who previously produced their grammy-award winning 2020 LP, The New Abnormal, which was embraced by many as a solid “comeback record”.
If The New Abnormal felt like an attempt to get into the good graces of casual listeners, Reality Awaits is a rebellious, odd-duck sibling album that pivots into its own territory. Here, the band often ditches the more straightforward, Strokes-throwback anthems like “Bad Decisions” and opts for a mix of dark, playful and strange excursions that are bound to be divisive, but are often excellent.
Casablancas also leans heavily into his distorted autotune that he uses frequently with The Voidz. But it’s not too surprising, since it’s been featured on nearly all of his releases since 2020 and even appeared on The New Abnormal. In my view, mostly every divisive album that Julian Casablancas has penned has only excited me, and I am an avid Voidz fan– I always find it thrilling when Casablancas takes big risks with either group. While the Reality Awaits tracklist is almost as unpredictable as a first listen of Comedown Machine, there are plenty of feverish highs, worthy experiments and it all feels cohesive on repeated listens.
Check out our Track By Track review of Reality Awaits
The Strokes always have eventful album openers, and “Psycho Shit” is yet another, but for entirely different reasons; it serves as a bookend that ramps up high drama at the entrance of the record. The theatrical doom and gloom approach here is unlike anything in The Strokes catalog; it’s much closer to an ascending, dark Voidz cut like “Pointlessness”.
Dreary guitar arpeggios open, building gradually from a whisper to the roar of Casablancas’ autotuned vocals belting among destructive distortion and crashing drums. A searing guitar solo takes off halfway through, leading to vocals at the tip-top of Casablanca’s robo-fied range. The whole cinematic ride is driven by its ability to build into a cacophonous crescendo; it thrives on chaos and heightened emotions. It's a challenging cut, but it's exciting to see The Strokes lean into a bold opener that is fully dedicated to the arc of an album.
The opener builds perfectly into “Dine and Dash”, which is a banger that flaunts a dancey beat with racing hi-hats and riffs that sound like The Cure aping “The Adults are Talking”.
Darkness bleeds into this track from the opener, as Casablancas exclaims “fighting for the future / watch the witches burn”. It is highlighted by melancholic falsetto over organs, shimmering Joy Division-esque synths, and triumphant bass-runs that expertly follow Casablancas’s vocal runs on the hook.
“Lonely in the Future” kicks off with a monstrous riff that serves as a red herring before the band takes off on an infectiously poppy, classic-Strokes progression. Funny enough, that intro riff never reappears in the song (“Tap Out”, anyone?). This brilliant tune has summer written all over it, and it's the biggest highlight. The Costa Rica backdrop really checks out on tracks like this, with its funky beat and delightfully beachy lead guitars. Of course, The Strokes couldn’t get through a hit on this particular record without a wild autotune freestyle from Jules.
That's not even the spiciest part: self-referential lyrics pop up like “YOLO/ You Only Live Once” before Julian name drops Chris Hedges as “the next fad”. Julian also takes a swipe at a famous music critic: “I heard that twenty fucking years ago/ I did, Fantano word for word, when I was a kid / Stick to the technical, cause that’s great/ but you would not recognize art in any age”. He does all of the above so playfully over the record’s most catchy number, it’s clear he’s having a blast with his hilariously unpredictable behavior.
Slow-burner ballad “Falling out Love” would have fit snug on the b-side of The New Abnormal, save for Casablancas’ Voidz-esque autotune. Julian’s sense of melody, melancholy and his pen game is on point. “I’m in love with a ghost / be always and never alone” is a potent and devastating lyric, as it suggests being alone and in love with a version of the relationship that has died, while haunted by its ghost indefinitely.
Casablancas’s verses are a soulful home run, but on some lines in the chorus, the autotuned falsetto sticks out slightly too far, feeling slightly disconnected from the delicate instrumental. Although it could have used more balance and TLC in the mix, it’s a beautifully written heartbreaker. The outro is where both the song and the autotune get along beautifully— it’s got an atmospheric, space-opera vibe that would have fit nicely as a segment on “At The Door”, or The Voidz Virtue.
“Going to Babble On” is a summer-ready highlight that finds a middle ground between their new approach and their classic, guitar-downstroking Strokes sound. It brings a punchy new wave beat and a poppy approach from Casablancas. Eagle-eared Strokes fans will recognize this as a Strokes-contributed tune from a campaign video for politician Maya Wiley. It’s got some dazzling guitar shredding in the outro, and it’s one of the most immediately catchy songs.
It checks out that “Going Shopping” is part of an album conceived by New Yorkers in Costa Rica, as it’s a breezy, vacation-core anthem with plenty of NYC cool.
On the chorus, Fabrizio Moretti’s drum performance feels like Devo on a sugar high; it skitters around with a giddy and infectious vibe that bumps up the BPM. Casablancas spits dystopian political commentary like “We're expanding on our greatness— building future ruins” and “The worse reality gets the less you wanna hear about it” as the beachy jam builds and consumer-culture jabs follow.
Around the halfway mark, the band hits a brilliant instrumental segment with a kooky mixolydian motif, while Nikolai Fraiture digs into a seriously funky bassline. It's a silly good time, peep the Walton Goggins video below.
“Liars Remorse” recalls moments like “Call Me Back” and “At The Door” in the way that it floats by with no percussion or drums. It’s a sparse minor-key ballad that thrives on arpeggios, and Casablanacas’ performance on the track stands out as he ruminates on sacrifices of love: “You don’t have love because you just can’t take the pain”. It features a wonky guitar solo that sounds like a horn that was beamed out of a jazz club. When Julian says “harmonic minor!” over the solo in an old-timey accent, and weird 80s programmed drums land at the end of the song for no apparent reason, it seems clear that these guys are having a blast horsing around.
“Fruits of Conquest” slams in with a slow tempo, sliding organs, congas and jangly chords. Casablancas’s smooth falsetto recalls “Pink Ocean” in his more spirited moments. This track plays like a loose, hazy jam session that was overdubbed— it’s as if The Stones were playing a Costa Rica beach party in the 80’s on an uneven dose of quaaludes and mescaline. It’s equally head-scratching and interesting, and while not every moment lands, the ideas that do are great. Casablancas’ “I’m a leech!” rant, however, is equally hilarious and absurd.
Closer “Tyrants of the Mellow Moon” yields atmospheric arpeggios and starts sparse, but around the two minute mark, some deliciously fuzzy harmonized guitars intercept the track. The last minute utilizes a mysterious progression and a mix of falsetto and spoken word over Moretti’s hip-hoppy beat. It unfortunately fizzles out under the moon, instead of triumphantly riding into the sunset like most Strokes closers, but it serves a nice bookend that loops back nicely into the first track.
The Strokes in Costa Rica by Promisleand
There is a ton to love about Reality Awaits, but it will probably be divisive with fans craving their trademark sound. Although, that’s truly nothing new for The Strokes since 2010’s Angles. This record treads closest to anything Julian has created with The Voidz, but when you look at some of The New Abnormal, “Drag Queen” and some of Comedown Machine, the line between The Strokes and The Voidz had already been significantly blurred.
Reality Awaits does feel like it will be a grower that will be more appreciated further down the line, but it's really not any more divisive than the early Voidz records that have since been fully embraced (Tyranny is a masterpiece, folks!). Respectfully, Strokes tracks like “Lonely in The Future”, “Going To Babble On”, “Going Shopping” and “Dine N'Dash” are all fantastic, bizarro summer-bops that should hit nearly immediately.
When speaking on the album, guitarist Albert Hammond Jr said, “It’s my favorite album we've ever done. I can't express how beautiful it is. I listen to the whole thing and wanna start from the beginning again. It grows and grows and becomes intoxicatingly good.”
For this reviewer (and long time listener), that last sentence rings very true. My first puzzled listen quickly slipped into excitement and adoration on consecutive spins. You can also see why Albert would adore such a deviation for the group, it holds a very different spirit from what’s normally expected of The Strokes.
Reality Awaits is an odd record for the Strokes to release at this moment; it’s not perfect, and it's certainly a strange brew, but it’s a potent and intoxicating one that’ll have you curiously coming back for more. It’s got great highs and interesting deep cuts, and there is a strong sense of creative freedom for the band that feels fresh and unburdened. I’ve enjoyed all Strokes albums thus far, and Reality Awaits is no exception. It's a strangely fascinating record that often shows the excellence that The Strokes have previously brought, while trekking down some peculiar new avenues. Perhaps the boundless creativity and promise that lies ahead for the band is just as exciting as the highest moments on Reality Awaits.
Occult Highlights: Lonely in the Future, Dine N’ Dash, Going Shopping, Psycho Shit, Going to Babble On
(…but we recommend you listen in full while doing your best Jules impersonation)
8.0/10
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