Two decades after their debut album Is This It hit the reset button on rock'n'roll, the Strokes journey has gone three-quarters of a circle: the late 1970s CBGBs riffs that were their frenetic trademark have been supplanted by early '80s new wave synths and sedentary rhythms. This a curious use of a band that has a terrific pair of guitarists in timekeeper Albert Hammond Jr and lead-break insurgent Nick Valensi, but frontman Julian Casablancas sets the tone and The New Abnormal sits comfortably alongside his recent solo albums. When the mix and match aesthetic gels, the five-piece are great fun: the keyboard stabs that open Brooklyn Bridge to Chorus manage to simultaneously suggest a rave anthem and Touch Me by The Doors. Bad Decisions hits their historic wheelhouse of upbeat groove and foggy croon while opener The Adults Are Talking is both urgent and bittersweet. But the album as a whole leans to sombre soliloquies that can flatten Casablancas' offhand observations. "Use me like an oar, get yourself to shore," he sings on At the Door, as The Strokes remain boats against their own current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. -CRAIG MATHIESON

ALTERNATIVE POP Anna Burch IF YOU'RE DREAMING (Heavenly/PIAS/Inertia) ★★★ Anna Burch: bell-like vocal delivery and a knack for gimlet-eyed self-examination. Credit:Alexa Viscius. Some things have changed; others haven't. Detroit singer-songwriter Anna Burch still mines a lyrical seam about the push-and-pull of relationships, and the negotiations – external and internal – between wanting both companionship and solitude. But while her 2018 debut Quit the Curse leaned towards the indie-rock/jangle-pop language of Best Coast or Alvvays, she dials things down on If You're Dreaming. Mid-paced and chiming openers Can't Sleep and Party's Over are as toe-tapping as it gets, while Tell Me What's True, built around soft-pedalling electric piano, is reminiscent of Aimee Mann – in fact, Burch shares some of Mann's hallmarks, with her contained, bell-like vocal delivery and knack for gimlet-eyed self-examination. The default languid setting does have the disadvantage of making things drift towards the middle when the melodies aren't quite strong enough to anchor the songs. Not So Bad stands out for its muted horns and lush twee-pop feel that will please fans of Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura. "If it's revision, at least it's comforting, no cataclysms in our history," Burch sings, forgiving the past in order to try again in a relationship. The swoon meets the tune and she hits the sweet spot.

-BARRY DIVOLA JAZZ James Morrison & Jeff Clayton

BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP (Universal) ★★★½ James Morrison & Jeff Clayton's Beautiful Friendship album cover. If your hair needs a cut or frizz and you can't go to a salon, try listening to Jeff Clayton's alto saxophone. It slices through a tangle of agile boppish lines on the title track like it's been stropped for hours – almost shocking in its intensity when sandwiched between the cruising solos of James Morrison's trombone and Konrad Paszkudzki's piano. That elevated state of surprise is sustained on the follow-up: an unusually slow version of Don't Get Around Much Anymore – the new anthem of our times! – that works at ballad tempo, with both Clayton and Morrison (flugelhorn) catching a bittersweet note of loneliness in their solos. The pair have worked together intermittently since 1989, and Clayton, whose stellar array of credits includes Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Count Basie, Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder, has been an artist-in-residence at the James Morrison Academy. They and drummer Gordon Rytmeister all blaze on a high-spirited I Love You and the standards are broken up with Clayton's originals (including the attractive bossa I Love You Entrevous). The fine quintet is completed by Brett Hirst and Phil Stack sharing bass duties (the latter starring on Target Practice). -JOHN SHAND

HIP-HOP Tech N9ne ENTERFEAR (Strange) ★★ Tech N9ne's Enterfear album cover. Fear is an emotion that is top of the mind for most people right now, and for gangster rapper Tech N9ne this works in his favour, with the release of his 22nd studio album, Enterfear. Known for his inimitable, quick-flow, thought-provoking lyrics, the 48-year-old artist and label owner's latest is like a glimpse into a parallel universe: one where the scariest thing is Halloween. Things go downhill quickly as N9ne employs clichèd tropes like voicemail recordings and, even worse, rhyming "titties" with "jizzy" on Leave It on the Flo. Underground rap titans Merkules and Scru Face Jean join the veteran on album highlight Phonk, but the hollow ring of sharp-warbling synths cheapen the experience. Label-mate Krizz Kaliko's appearance on middling slow-burners KC Smile, BIB, Smell Good and Suckseed also fail to impress. There's no doubt that Tech N9ne has something to say, which he's proved throughout his career, although here his signature braggadocio and meditations on violence suffer because of saccharine sound effects. Growing up in the mid-west of the US as a black man, N9ne has a vivid story to tell, but rather than delivering a high-octane thrill ride, he offers a forgettable record.

-KISH LAL