Strokes’ third album makes dubious First Impression

In 2001 the Strokes released their debut album, Is This It, and rode a mountain of hype to the top of alternative and independent charts nationwide. Their almost instantaneous success was credited to their style as much as to their songs. The Strokes’ sound has always been distinctive, defined by the impeccably simple interplay between a rock-solid rhythm section and insistent guitars. Their rock’n roll posturing — characterized by scruffy hair, I’ve-been-partying-too-much-to-shave stubble, destroyed denim and vintage T-shirts tucked under thrift store blazers — helped make the Strokes a brand as much as a band. And it allowed Is This It and 2003’s Room On Fire to become favorites of both indie elitists and the MTV masses.

The Strokes’ ascent into the mainstream means this year’s First Impressions of Earth will face careful scrutiny as the band’s long-term relevance comes into question.

The album’s opener, “You Only Live Once,” assuages some of these fears: It is a definitive Strokes song, filled with the same dueling guitar riffs that have defined the Strokes’ sound since Is This It. Singer Julian Casablancas sounds assertive and in control as he belts out a smattering of confused lyrics with exaggerated intensity. Drummer Fabrizio Moretti and bassist Nikolai Fraiture anchor the song with laudable precision, while guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond, Jr. trade waves of distorted eighth notes.

However, as “You Only Live Once” fades into “Juicebox,” an attempt at fist-pumping metal falls flat. The Strokes continue to experiment with their sound throughout the album, foregoing the evolutionary growth they displayed in Room On Fire and tossing around varied styles with the same lack of interest they might display while selecting vintage sneakers and sunglasses before a show.

They play with unity and confidence on “Elecricityscape,” a song that sounds more like blue-album Weezer than anything the Strokes have ever done. In “15 Minutes,” Casablancas croons over a dreamy landscape of melodic guitar that flows with an ease atypical for the often frenzied Strokes.

Here, the band’s experimentations are successful, but other songs are hampered by new sounds. For example, “Vision of Division” contains a frantic guitar solo that sounds definitively out of place and as grating as the song’s unfortunate title.

The lyrics also fail to inspire. On “Ask Me Anything” Casablancas sings “I’ve got nothing to say” and then backs this claim up with the completely nonsensical “Don’t be a coconut/ God is trying to talk to you.” The song is perhaps the most experimental on the album; Casablancas sings on top of a synthetic cello line with the rest of the band conspicuously absent. On this semi-solo, he confides “We could drag it out/But that’s for other bands to do.”

But they do drag it out, and First Impressions of Earth feels bloated and overstuffed. It contains some great songs, but is held back by throwaways such as the self-conscious “Ize of the World” and the bored “Killing Lies.”

The album closes on a gem with “Red Light.” As the band rocks out in perfect and almost mechanical unity, Casablancas is at his best. He is in control and knows it, declaring with self-conscious bravado that he is part of “an entire generation that has nothing to say” while Valensi and Hammond rock out in stereo.

Despite individual tracks’ failures, it is evident Casablancas has grown as a vocalist. His melodies exhibit more confidence than previous efforts and his versatile range carries throughout the album. On the Strokes’ first two efforts, Casablancas often sounded as though he was delivering his lines through a telephone — his voice tended toward the distant, distorted and mumbling. By contrast, on First Impressions of Earth his voice is at the forefront and defined by a newfound clarity.

Now that Casablancas has found his voice, Strokes fans can only hope he and the band find some stability in their message as a group. The indie scene may not need them anymore, and the MTV crowd seems to have let them know it, but it would be nice to have this 2000s rock icon stick around.

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