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The Strokes are back! That's what everyone's saying about their latest albumtheir first full length release since 2013'sHonestly anything before 2016 seems like an eternity ago so it's hard to remember that album clearly but I do recall that it seemed somewhat phoned in. That, combined with the fact that lead singer Julian has found success with his side band The Voidz, made me surprised to hear that they dropped a new album last week. I was doubly surprised to find that the iconic Rick Rubin produced this record. My reaction to that was pure excitement. Rick Rubin!! This is going to be a return to form for The Strokes, a return to what made them icons themselves.It turns out that couldn't be further from the truth. Though Rubin is best known for his work with groups like Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Rage Against the Machine etc this is the strangest, least edgy collection of Strokes songs I've ever imagined hearing. Not that that's a bad thing in itself. I've learned to embrace when my favorite bands change styles, and this album is very up front about that topic, specifically on the trackBut just because it's something different doesn't mean it's good. I think they missed the mark for a couple main reasons.One is the musical influences. They're on the sleeve obvious and irresponsibly, immaturely handled. I'd expect this from a highschool coverband, but not from the guys in The Strokes. Here are the three worst offenders.(fantastic song title)would literally be a better song if it was just done by Rick Astley,basically samples Billy Idol's Dancing With Myself,is the millionth Pink Floyd The Wall copycat and far from the best. Some others are the bassline in the intro trackwhich sounds ripped right out of an XX song, the only thinghas going for it is a groove that could've literally been composed by Deadmau5 andhas the most out of place dubstep effect on the guitars. Why are these influences bad? Not just because they're obvious. For examplealso has a great synth line straight out of an 80s scifi movie but it's works because it's mixed into the background and is vague enough to be appreciated as an homage.has a neat daft punk underwater effect but it's tucked away in a 15 second outro. The other examples that straight up copy are boring because the band doesn't do anything new with them. They're not homages or references, they're sounds that the band like so they took them. It's unoriginal and inferior to what the original musicians made anyway. And I just can't believe that they did it to Pink Floyd - can you name a sound that's been more blatantly ripped off over the decades than The Wall??? I can't. So to see a band that I've always appreciated as trendsetters stoop to such levels is crushingly disappointing.Another issue is the vocals. I get it if Julian doesn't want to use the singing style that made him famous for literally any reason under the sun. As he explains inhe's done with doing that just to please fans. But what we have on this album is straight up bizarre. It's switching back and forth between uncomfortable, misplaced falsetto and whispered croons, not at all in rhythm with the music but seemingly at random. It sucks when that happens in the middle of a song you think you're starting to groove to. And I get that not all music needs to work smoothly together. Disjointed vocals can work great when done with purpose. That's just not the case here.Speaking of music, nearly every song alternates between two main rhythms with little or no variation upon them. That's typical of Strokes songs in the past... but those songs were two or three minute, fast paced bangers. The songs on this album stretch on for five, even six minutes. And again, it's not like I can't appreciate a slow, methodical song, but this album moves in slowmo - it's lethargic, crawling along like it's been shot with a tranquilizer. The original chord progressions are simple and just repeated over and over again anyway where the pace does pick up in spurts.Lyrically there are some bright spots. There are ideas and motifs that appear throughout multiple songs that work very, very well. The album basically is about reflecting on Julian's past, reminiscing about the pains of the mistakes of youth, while also reflecting on his current situation and how he's followed self destructive cycles resulting in him feeling alone. There's neat turns of phrase comparing loving selflessly and selfishly. He sings about his friends making plans without him then about old friends long forgotten. He says he's like a swan, who no longer needs his ex-wife (they divorced in 2019) to swim because he can fly now, then describes the shallow, automatic way of relating to a new woman. He sings about the contradiction of a girl hiding in the background but wanting to be found, the contradiction between too much time being evil and missing the old 9 to 5 but then using girls for their time because he doesn't have enough. This yin-yang songwriting is a really enjoyable format, especially when employed within songs and within a short album like this. Julian can be very poignant with his songwriting. Although with that said, several of the songs feature promising lyrical ideas that are never developed like this and feel like a waste of time.Some of the imagery is good too. He describes a woman as being better as a window than as a door (brutal but honest). He talks about a woman using him to stay afloat, then later says he'll be waiting from the other side waiting for the tide to rise, a reference to a previous Strokes song - in fact there are many such references, which I appreciate in such a reflective album. He closes the album saying his old ways - that he's elaborated on in the album, ranging from his ex to his alcoholism to his old friends who don't like him anymore - have been swallowed by the ocean, leaving only "us." One has to wonder exactly who the other person is, as well as the meaning behind the closing line of the album:I think that means that his frustration with continuing in the same way as he did when he was young (he's 41 now) has reached the point where he can no longer ignore it, that while he has been silent about it to the outside, he's ready to release it in a roar that he knows will cause him pain to go through as well as shame for what he's admitting.It's a tremendously personal line and the real highlight of what the album has to offer. Unfortunately the rest of the album is a bit of a mess and way, way, way too uneven to enjoy. I think as an expression of his reflection it's effective, but as entertainment it's severely lacking. I hope that's not too impersonal a thing to say, but it is what it is.Light 2 out of 5.