Released on Rough Trade
With The Strokes’ fourth album seemingly forever in working progress, frontman Julian Casablancas has released a solo album in double quick time in comparison.
While several of his bandmates have been involved in side projects of their own it is Casablancas’ individual work which is much more eagerly anticipated.
At only eight tracks long and about 40 minutes in duration ‘Phrazes For The Young’ does not disappoint but neither does it excite in the same way as he does in his day job with The Strokes.
Who can forget the first time they heard The Strokes’ debut ‘This Is It’ and the pure exhilaration and electricity the album produced as Casablancas and co described the lives of twenty somethings living in New York?
‘Phrazes...’ does have its own moments of inspiration though, Ludlow St delivers a bluesy drunken tale of mischief and mishaps as Casablancas gets caught up in nostalgia: ‘Faces are changing on Ludlow St/Yuppies invading on Ludlow St/Night life is raging on Ludlow St/History's fading.’It is comforting to hear Casablancas’ dulcet drawl as he weaves his vocals through an altogether different effort from previous work.
The most obvious change is the variety of genres as Casablancas insists on turning several of his tracks into electro, disco, and blues tunes.
Lead single 11th Dimension wouldn’t be out of place in the hands of any electro-pop outfit you care to mention but Casablancas’ distinctive voice helps to make the song his own.
Synthesisers and keyboards aid the vocals of Casablancas on much of the record as he creates a sound that would be difficult to relate to The Strokes.
Lyrically parts of ‘Phrazes...’ sound like the thoughts of an angry young man; with album opener Out Of The Blue starting with the words: ‘Somewhere along the way, my hopefulness turned to sadness/ Somewhere along the way, my sadness turned to bitterness.’Left & Right & In The Dark is The Strokes gone pop with synths adding to the sound of the past but nonetheless it suits the style of the album and is a rather catchy ditty.
11th Dimension and Ludlow St follow as ‘Phrazes...’ starts to promise great things however the second half of the album seems to meander along with nothing to grab your attention.
River Of Brakelights could easily be found on ‘First Impressions Of Earth’ but presents nothing new.
Penultimate track Glass builds up excellently to a crescendo but never quite reaches the heights you hope for when it gets there as Casablancas promotes his insecurities; ‘You can lie to yourself/But don't lie to me/That's what they want.’
Ending with Tourist with an intro which sounds like you’re in the wild west but leads you into a wistful view of Casablancas’ take on the world today: ‘feel like a tourist out in the desert/somehow it feels like the devil's breath/feel like a tourist out in this swampland/this world is just of water and land.’
There’s no doubting the song writing talent of Casablancas and more solo material will surely follow to build on a solid start. So all in all a good album from Casablancas but lets hope for The Strokes part four before another solo effort.
Posted In Album Reviews, Nov 15 2009.
Words - Richard