Comedown Machine

The Strokes were last seen way back in 2011 with Angles, their rather disappointing fourth record. The band had somehow managed to lose their edge which had once seen them defined as the most prominent 21st Century indie rock band, and the results were clear in the form of a flat, disjointed album. This therefore begs the foreboding question of whether or not this occurrence has been repeated with their latest record,Comedown Machine.

The most notable (and positive) change in the production of this album is that the band were all present at the same time and place for recording at Electric Lady Studios in their home city of New York. In spite of this apparent unity, though, there is still something distinctly fragmented about Comedown Machine, whether it be the uneasy mesh of several differing styles, or the range in the actual quality of the music.

For instance, the first two tracks – ‘Tap Out and recent single ‘All The Time’ – both suffer from meandering melodies and a lack of any sincere meaning or purpose. The latter is only further exacerbated by Julian Casablancas’ lethargic voice and half-hearted lyrics, which neither he nor the listener end up having much faith in. Though this unfortunate theme dissipates for part of the album, it does resurface in later songs such as ‘Partners In Crime’ and ‘Happy Ending’, with each track leaving the listener with the underwhelming sense of “so what?”

Nevertheless there are still moments of vintage Strokes to be found on Comedown Machine: a happy reminder of just how good a band they are. ‘One Way Trigger’ signposts the beginning of something interesting with sharp, precise instrumentation, supported by a more upbeat tempo and the signature drive of all Strokes classics. Thankfully, this carries over into a couple of other tracks, such as ‘50/50’, wherein Casablancas’ visceral vocals echo the gutsy days ofFirst Impressions Of Earth. Elsewhere, ‘Slow Animals’ shows the band illustrating with ease the depth of their musical intellect, complete with syncopated rhythms.

Despite these returns to excellence, they are really only brief blips which do not make up for a decidedly average album, which cannot bring itself to decide what it wants to achieve: to capture the old genius of The Strokes, or drag their break-of-the-millennium sound to 2013. Comedown Machine delivers a huge range of styles, and at some points it works startlingly well, whilst in other places it has such a negligible impact that it’s hard to notice a difference from one track to the next. More than anything though, this album simply makes the listener yearn for the days of Is This It or Room On Fire, because honestly, an average album from The Strokes is always just going to make you want to listen to songs from the band’s glory days.

Similar To: Franz Ferdinand, The Vaccines

MP3: ‘One Way Trigger’, ‘Slow Animals’