Artist: Julian Casablancas
Album: Phrazes For The Young
Year: 2009
Grade: 3.5 pretzels
Despite being heralded as the future of rock & roll at the beginning of the decade, the Strokes have pretty much vanished from view over the years. One great album and two middle-of-the-road ones are really all this supposedly legendary band has offered the world during their time on Earth. Add in the fact that their recording plans for an upcoming fourth album keep getting pushed back and it seems like there could be no better time for the band’s members to embark on solo projects. That’s exactly what’s been happening this year and lead singer Julian Casablancas is the latest Stroke to test the waters with his solo debut.
Phrazes For The Young has shades of the Strokes’ music throughout it, but it definitely has its own unique flavor. Casablancas lets his love for 80s synth pop really shine through, creating bubbling little pop gems, full of crisp drum beats and twisty keyboard lines. The crown jewel in this set is the lead single “11th Dimension”, which shamelessly leaves every other song on the album in the dust. It’s a song that sounds like it should have been released in 1985 (and I mean that as a compliment). Just give it a listen. I promise you’ll have that synth riff stuck in your head for the next eight hours.
However, beyond “11th Dimension”, Phrazes gets a bit lost. Casablancas doesn’t seem to have a very good sense of how to edit these songs down and the vast majority of the album’s eight tracks are just way too long. “Ludlow St.” threatens to exceed six minutes, despite the fact that there’s virtually nothing going on within the song. The same goes for the five-minute-long “4 Chords Of The Apocalypse”, which is already slow to begin with. Add in an interminable running time and the song feels like it’s absolutely never going to end.
The album does gain some momentum back towards the end, with the strange and angular “River Of Brakelights” and honestly emotional “Glass”. Both of these songs let Casablancas play to his vocal strengths, as his semi-drunken drawl stretches syllables and words into grand, evocative phras(z)es. When Casablancas finally lets loose on the chorus to “Glass”, it’s a moment of release you’ve been waiting for since the beginning of the album. Like the best Strokes songs, it’s a moment that blends urban hipness, youthful apathy and powerful emotions into one charming whole. Phrazes For The Young does have enough moments like this to keep things interesting, but with only eight songs to compare, the album’s shortcomings become a bit more obvious. There’s no room for lackluster tracks to hide and Phrazes is made up of very clear hits and misses.
Phrazes For The Young has shades of the Strokes’ music throughout it, but it definitely has its own unique flavor. Casablancas lets his love for 80s synth pop really shine through, creating bubbling little pop gems, full of crisp drum beats and twisty keyboard lines. The crown jewel in this set is the lead single “11th Dimension”, which shamelessly leaves every other song on the album in the dust. It’s a song that sounds like it should have been released in 1985 (and I mean that as a compliment). Just give it a listen. I promise you’ll have that synth riff stuck in your head for the next eight hours.
However, beyond “11th Dimension”, Phrazes gets a bit lost. Casablancas doesn’t seem to have a very good sense of how to edit these songs down and the vast majority of the album’s eight tracks are just way too long. “Ludlow St.” threatens to exceed six minutes, despite the fact that there’s virtually nothing going on within the song. The same goes for the five-minute-long “4 Chords Of The Apocalypse”, which is already slow to begin with. Add in an interminable running time and the song feels like it’s absolutely never going to end.
The album does gain some momentum back towards the end, with the strange and angular “River Of Brakelights” and honestly emotional “Glass”. Both of these songs let Casablancas play to his vocal strengths, as his semi-drunken drawl stretches syllables and words into grand, evocative phras(z)es. When Casablancas finally lets loose on the chorus to “Glass”, it’s a moment of release you’ve been waiting for since the beginning of the album. Like the best Strokes songs, it’s a moment that blends urban hipness, youthful apathy and powerful emotions into one charming whole. Phrazes For The Young does have enough moments like this to keep things interesting, but with only eight songs to compare, the album’s shortcomings become a bit more obvious. There’s no room for lackluster tracks to hide and Phrazes is made up of very clear hits and misses.
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