As hard as it may be to believe, it really has been 12 years since The Storke’s breakout album Is This It? came out. And for those last 12 years, whether they’ll admit to it or not, the Strokes have been working desperately to recapture that magic that seemed to lace every track of their acclaimed debut. I’ll just go ahead and kill that eager enthusiasm early. No, Comeback Machine is not that album.
The teased radio single, “All The Time”, which lured in the Strokes faithful with its bouncy energy and garage rock hooks, is a cruel bait and switch. The rest of the album is a decidedly different sounding affair that couldn’t make it anymore obvious that the single was crafted specifically to entice fans hoping for the second coming of Is This It? If there’s one thing this album manages to accomplish though, it’s that The Strokes finally sound like they’re ready to let go of the past and take a step in a new direction.
Comedown Machine finds the band channeling an eclectic mix of new wave and synthpop influences tinged with a hint of some bossa nova funk. Yes, the word “danceable” can now be adequately used to describe an album from a once hailed garage rock revival band, but I digress. Unlike Angels which sounded like a muddled mess where no one was on board, Comedown Machine sounds like a concerted team effort.
To their credit, when the Strokes want to get funky, they get their platforms on and go all out leading to the album’s more inspired moments. The opener “Tap Out” has a frenzied, almost tropical energy held down by tight bass hooks and some creative stabs at the vocals. For the first time, Julian Casablancas doesn’t sound like a perpetually bored douche too cool to have feelings. He toys around with an enjoyably pleasant falsetto that, frankly I didn’t know he had in him.
The new wave experimentation continues on poppy tracks like “Welcome To Japan” which sounds like a throwaway Duran Duran tune, and “One Way Ticket” which channels Ah-Ha’s “Take On Me” right down to the signature melody. But throughout out these experiments The Strokes do still keep some of their trademark garage feedback antics. Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. is the unsung hero of this album and positively nails the crazy transitions necessary without missing a beat; from the jangly pop melodies of “50/50” to the blistering guitar solos in “Partners In Crime”.
While Comedown Machine is a bold sounding effort, it’s premature to say that it’s even close to solid. The problems from Angles are present here; terrible flow interrupted by jarring shifts that are ill fit, too many dull moments, and still no clear direction of where this road The Strokes are taking will end. The last track, “Call It Fate, Call It Karma” throws any sort of roadmap away by being a seedy cocktail lounge number of all things. It’s not a bad song. Just like this isn’t a bad album. But it sounds like the Strokes are still trying to work out where they’re going with all this.
