The Strokes – First Impressions of Earth

RCA 2006

Rating: 5.5/10

Original Release Date: 1/3/06

First Impressions of Earth is the sound of a band trying to grow. After the Strokes 2003 release Room on Fire was critically slammed for simply retreading the ground covered by their debut album, the band spent two years focusing on making a record that would sound, well, different. Whether this was necessary or not is debatable; Room on Fire was a perfectly fine sophomore effort by a band that was overly hyped to begin with, and if you’re dating Drew Barrymore and being hailed as messiahs of Rock, why change?

The Strokes’ attempt to throw some new musical tricks into their tried-and-true style garners them mixed results. Some songs on First Impressions of Earth sound genuinely fresh and interesting, while one can hear in others the almost palpable strain of a band forcing itself to grow.

When you first start up the disc, the most noticeable difference from previous Strokes offerings is the vocal mix; singer Julian Casablancas’ lyrics are actually intelligible, and his voice is surprisingly audible above the standard-Strokes droning bass and sharp guitars.

The album starts up with promise; opener “You Only Live Once” is vintage Strokes, with a dance-able beat and urgent, staccato guitar bursts framing Casablanca’s narrative. The next song, single “Juicebox” revolves around a ridiculous James Bond-esque bass line and sounds unlike anything else on the album. Why they chose this for airplay is beyond me, as it is possibly the most divisive song on the record.

The next two songs “Heart In A Cage” and “Razorblade” are excellent tunes, benefiting from Casablanca’s clearer singing and the melodic guitar playing. On the latter song Casablancas sings “Oh no, my feelings are more important than yours / oh, drop dead, I don’t care, I won’t worry / let it go.”

This self-centered musing encapsulates the main lyrical theme of First Impressions of Earth; Casablancas is world-weary and incredibly cynical. His one-dimensional lyrics can sometimes become grating, as on “On The Other Side,” where he whines “I hate them all, I hate them all / I hate myself / for hating them.”

This album is ambitious, to be sure; its nearly twice as long as Is This It and Room on Fire, and the musical chances the band takes far outstrip the simple yet effective formula of those two releases. Songs like “Electricityscape,” with its cascades of drum rolls and funky guitar lines show the Strokes growing up and trying out some new ideas.

But, as with all ambitious musical projects, there are some failures. On “Evening Sun,” they take a stab at a slow (for them, at least) song, with a jittery cymbal rhythm anchoring the song. Here, Casablanca’s voice is actually a detriment to the song; his voice is not particularly great, and when he shifts into screaming mode, its positively painful without an interesting beat to mask it.

“Ask Me Anything” is the most obvious sign of the Strokes trying to do something new, and not a good one. The song uses a single instrument, an increasingly annoying synthesizer, and has Casablancas singing “I’ve got nothing to say.” Indeed. It almost screams, “Look! We can do a slow, arty song too!” Unfortunately, it’s just boring.

Ironically, the best song on the album, closer “Red Light,” most resembles tracks off the previous Strokes albums. Overall, First Impressions of Earth is neither an unequivocal success nor a complete failure. It offers a definite new sound, a refreshing change from their previous albums, but some missteps along the way as the band tries desperately to please its critics. Songs like “You Only Live Once” prove that the Strokes can still be original and relevant without compromising their unique sound. Hopefully their next album will be more of the good kind of growth, instead of sounding forced and self-conscious.