The Strokes - Angles
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The Strokes released one of the best and most significant albums of the past 10 years with their 2001 debut, Is This It. It wasn’t so much that the music was completely original as much as it was a revival of something that was once previously relegated to a past era. The hype that surrounded the band leading up to and following the release of Is This It created quite a lot for the band to live up to. The follow-up album, Room On Fire, didn’t take too many risks and stayed the course – a well-received effort considering the pressure that must have been on them to match the success of their debut. The third album, First Impressions of Earth, saw the band trying to step outside the shadow of their identifiable sound, experimenting a bit with generally positive results – not their best work, but certainly something that succeeded in its own right.
It’s now been five years since The Strokes released an album of new material, and Angles is being heralded as their comeback record. Unfortunately, it seems as though The Strokes are being labeled as one of those bands with a great debut that could never escape the shadow of past success. With an album as defining as Is This It to their name, a great many went on hoping for more of the same, when – understandably – the band have always wanted to grow and create something that was more than just a reiteration of what they’ve previously done. Angles is the first step in the realization of the band’s evolution, and it is their most daring, creative effort since Is This It.
