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The Strokes have enjoyed too much
of a charmed existence to justify their turn from garage-flavored party-rock to
garage-heavy diatribes against fame and fortune, but here they are, cynical and
angst-ridden on First Impressions. And
clearly that’s by design. Determined to broaden their sound after the
carbon-copy successes of Is This It?
and Room On Fire, Julian
Casablancas and company have ditched longtime producer Gordon Raphael (on all
but three tracks) for Sugar Ray mastermind David Kahne. The result is the
quintet’s most rousing, emotionally revealing effort to date, with Casablancas
finally losing his calculated cool against a background of typically meticulous
riffs and frenetic melodies. “Today they’ll talk about us,” Casablancas bellows
on the not-so-subtly titled “15 Minutes.” “Tomorrow they won’t care.” Maybe,
but if First Impressions is any
evidence, there’s plenty of reason to care. Hell, things are just getting
interesting.
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