When
the Strokes
returned from their lengthy post-
First Impressions of Earth
hiatus with
Angles
, they'd been apart almost as long as they'd been together. While they were gone, they cast a long shadow: upstarts like
the Postelles
and
Neon Trees
borrowed more than a few pages from their stylebook, and even established acts like
Phoenix
used the band's strummy guitar pop for their own devices. During that time, the members of
pursued side projects that were more or less engaging, but it felt like the band still had unfinished business; though
First Impressions
was ambitious, it didn't feel like a final statement. For that matter, neither does
, which arrived just a few months shy of their classic debut
Is This It
's tenth anniversary. Clocking in at a svelte 34 minutes, it's as short as the band's early albums, but
is a different beast. Somehow,
sound more retro here than they did before, with slick production coating everything in a new wave sheen.
Fabrizio Moretti
's drums are more precise than ever, and
Julian Casablancas
' voice is blanketed in distortion that stands in sharp contrast to his pristine surroundings.
Nick Valensi
is
' star, turning in witty responses to
Casablancas
' vocals and dazzling solos like the one that graces
"Two Kinds of Happiness"
' mix of power pop and post-punk.
The Strokes
deliver a few quintessential moments:
"Under Cover of Darkness"
is an ueber-
Strokes
song, with tumbling verses that borrow
"Last Night"
's melody and soaring, secretly earnest choruses; meanwhile,
"Machu Picchu"
's reggae-fied strut harks back to
Room on Fire
. They sound even better on
"Taken for a Fool,"
which, with lines like "Monday, Tuesday is my weekend," rivals their earlier songs for quotability, and on
"Gratisfaction,"
which plays like the perfect cross between
Nick Lowe
's
"And So It Goes"
and everything
Billy Joel
recorded from the late '70s to the early '80s. ~ Heather Phares