Review: The Strokes’ Reality Awaits Is Frustrating, Brilliant, and Worth It

I wanted to turn off this album on the first listen immediately. Maybe I wasn’t in the right headspace; maybe it was because “Psycho Shit,” the first track on the album, was so drenched in overused auto-tune, or that it was so sleepy that I completely lost interest. But I stuck with it and made it through the first few songs, then got distracted by other things and lost the flow of spinning this new Rick Rubin-produced album, Reality Awaits, by The Strokes.

I really felt like I didn’t care to return to it. It’s not that I’m some hater of The Strokes; I actually quite like the band and their discography, but there was this demand from the music to feel uncomfortable at times and be okay with it. I wasn’t ready to give in to their demands, specifically Julian Casablancas; this art needed time to permeate, and the attention I needed to give it wasn’t there.

Later that evening,  I was driving around the city of Toronto running some errands, an oddly traffic-free night that gave me just enough patience to pick this album back up amongst the city lights and sticky summer heat.

As Casablancas belts out “It’s going great” on the album's second song, “Dine N’ Dash,” I was strangely hooked and my interest only peaked as it led me to some truly incredible tracks like “Lonely in the Future”, “Going to Babble On”, and “The Fruits of Conquest” (those guitars on the intro, omg).

But let’s get it straight, this album isn’t perfect. It’s a creatively demanding listen with so many ups and downs, tempo changes, vocal stylizing and more. It’s shifting and changing constantly, and as you dig in and get fully entrenched in this body of work, it seems to just abruptly stop as the last song, “Tyrants of the Mellow Moon,” just… ends.

The overuse of auto-tune is probably the biggest flag to wave here and say, get ready for it. It’s off-putting a lot of the time. Songs like “Psycho Shit,” “Falling out of Love,” and “Liar’s Remorse” take the right headspace to sit through after fleeting moments of mastery at work from the full band on other tracks.

This album is anything but boring, which is an incredible feat after six long years without making music together and being at this stage of their careers. Some of the guitarwork and drums have moments where it feels like it could be the band's best work. It’s exciting to see them push their craft and continue to be creative, even if at times it doesn't seem to work in their favour. It’s a polarizing listen for fans of the band, but that’s what good albums do. Some of the most iconic albums of our time have been highly contested. Good art creates space for conversation whether you love it or you hate it. Give Reality Awaits the space and time it needs; the more you listen to it, the more you give it a chance, the more you start to hear just how good this album is.

Best Tracks: Dine N’ Dash, Lonely in the Future, The Fruits of Conquest

7/10

Words by: Steve St. Jean