The Strokes’ Reality Awaits Review: A Bold Step Beyond Garage Rock
By Allan Tompkins
25 years after the release of their debut album, the band known for having redefined the garage rock genre at the turn of the century has given their fans yet another challenge to embrace in the controversial yet addictive sound of Reality Awaits.
Despite the mixed opinions that frontman Julian Casablancas has received for his creative decisions with the album, Reality Awaits acts as an undeniable next step in transitioning The Strokes from a raw, minimalist rock band to an amalgamation of indie rock and synth-pop that complement each other like bread and butter.
Their gradual introduction of synthesizers into songs like Welcome to Japan in 2013 and At The Door in 2020 has evolved into Casablancas’ unapologetic usage of AutoTune in almost every song on the new album—a choice that has many fans divided. Whether the blame for this feature is on Daft Punk for having introduced AutoTune to Casablancas in 2013 with the catchy tune of Instant Crush or on Julian for heavily integrating the software in his experimental rock group known as The Voidz, one thing is certain: Reality Awaits succeeds in doing what The Strokes do best—redefining the way people view music.
Produced by Rick Rubin, the same man responsible for The Strokes’ Grammy-winning album The New Abnormal in 2020, Reality Awaits is an 18-track album stuffed into nine employing such abrupt changes in almost every one of their melodies that it leaves you wondering if you liked the song at all.
In Liar’s Remorse, the rather melancholic mood of the song almost reaches a point of redundancy just as the final 30 seconds roll in, which feature an off-kilter harmonic guitar outro that effortlessly leads into the dubby sound of The Fruits of Conquest which opens with Casablancas’ signature falsettos. Similarly, midway through the groovy song that is Lonely in the Future, The Strokes bridge their largely guitar-based tune into one dominated by synths and AutoTune, making the song feel like a rollercoaster where you can anticipate the drop and are that much more excited because of it.
Lyrically, the band largely remains at its roots with multiple songs exploring love and relationships such as Falling out of Love, the second of their two teasers released prior to the album which features heavy AutoTune and a distinct heartbreak ballad that seems to have come from a page of The Voidz’s book with a twist of The Strokes’ personalizations. In the album’s closer, Tyrants of the Mellow Moon, Julian speaks on the band’s age and legacy with the opening line “So we go for one more ride/ and that’s okay ‘cause I did my time/ but now I wait for another chance/ when I will take everything I can.”
At a point where The Strokes are now qualifiable into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, fans who have been loyal for years along with newfound teenagers taking a liking to the seemingly canon event that is The Strokes both look at the band’s next moves very carefully—a reality that unfortunately results in the type of disappointment that many fans expecting the same old stuff repackaged into new names experienced with Reality Awaits.
Perhaps The Strokes will never truly be able to escape the gripping jaws of nostalgia that their music has instilled on everyone which is why an album like Reality Awaits is a blatant example of the band sticking to their guns and attempting to, once again, reimagine a genre that they themselves helped lay the foundation for. The future doesn't wait for nostalgia—and neither do The Strokes.
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