Angles (The Strokes album)

Untitled

Angles is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band The Strokes, released in March 2011. It is their first album since First Impressions of Earth (2006), their longest gap to date between two consecutive studio albums.

Recording

After touring in support of First Impressions of Earth, The Strokes went on an extended hiatus in 2007 and then regrouped two years later to begin writing new material for a fourth album. The album took more than two years to materialize, with the band recording live demos of 18 songs before heading into Avatar Studios in New York with producer Joe Chiccarelli. Not long after recording began, however, the band became frustrated with Chicarelli's reserved production style. Only one song from these recording sessions, "Life Is Simple in the Moonlight", remained on the album's tracklisting. The Strokes recorded the rest of the album's material with engineer Gus Oberg at a converted farmhouse near guitarist Albert Hammond Jr.'s Port Jervis home in Upstate New York.

Singer Julian Casablancas largely removed himself from the other four Strokes during the recording process, going so far as recording his vocals remotely at Electric Lady Studios and sending them to the band via email. Likewise, most communication between Casablancas and the rest of the band took place via email, and, according to guitarist Nick Valensi, most of the singer's ideas and suggestions were written "in really vague terms", leaving the others without much to go on. Casablancas' literal distance was a deliberate attempt at forcing the other members to take control of the band's creative process, a task which he had hitherto dominated. In an interview with Pitchfork, Casablancas stated: "When I'm there, people might wait for me to say something. I think it took me being a little mute to force the initiative". While Casablancas’ disengagement may have been by design, Valensi found the whole experience deeply dissatisfying, "I won’t do the next album we make like this. No way. It was awful– just awful. Working in a fractured way, not having a singer there. I’d show up certain days and do guitar takes by myself, just me and the engineer." Hammond's drug abuse and resulting rehab—stemming from his breakup with model Agyness Deyn—was another hurdle the band faced during the album's production, as he missed early recording sessions.

Musical style

Inspired, in part, by bands like MGMT, Arctic Monkeys, and Crystal Castles, The Strokes decided to experiment with various production techniques. Bassist Nikolai Fraiture revealed that the album would be "a return to the basics", suggesting the songs would be of similar style to their acclaimed debut record Is This It (2001).

Release and reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic.com
Entertainment Weekly	(B-)
The Guardian
NME
Pitchfork Media	5.9/10
Rolling Stone
musicOMH.com
BBC Music
Paste Magazine

The first single to promote Angles, "Under Cover of Darkness", was released on February 9, 2011. The 7" was officially released on March 1, 2011 and contained "You're So Right" as the B-side. On March 5, 2011, the band appeared on Saturday Night Live as the musical guest and performed "Under Cover of Darkness" and "Life is Simple in the Moonlight". On March 23, 2011, the band appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and performed "Under Cover of Darkness." The band will embark on a worldwide tour promoting the album in 2011.

Media response to Angles was generally favorable; aggregating website Metacritic reports a normalized rating of 70%, based on 29 reviews. In his four-star review, David Fricke of Rolling Stone explained that the record was "worth the wait", and summed it up as "the first step away from the sound of their instant-classic debut. Instead of the rigid purity of 'Is This It,' the new album nods to the more expansive sound of The Velvet Underground's 1970 record, Loaded." Amanda Petrusich of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B-, describing it as "accordingly fractured and often inscrutable, but there are returns to form."

At the other end of the spectrum, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian awarded the album two stars out of five. "Plenty of great records have been made in an atmosphere of terrible acrimony," he said. "But 'Angles' just sounds like an album made by people who really didn't want to make an album."

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Machu Picchu"	Nick Valensi, Julian Casablancas	3:30
2.	"Under Cover of Darkness"	Nick Valensi, Julian Casablancas, Fabrizio Moretti, Nikolai Fraiture, Albert Hammond Jr	3:56
3.	"Two Kinds of Happiness"		3:44
4.	"You're So Right"	Nikolai Fraiture	2:34
5.	"Taken for a Fool"	Nick Valensi	3:23
6.	"Games"	Julian Casablancas, Nick Valensi	3:54
7.	"Call Me Back"		3:05
8.	"Gratisfaction"	Julian Casablancas, Fabrizio Moretti	2:59
9.	"Metabolism"		3:06
10.	"Life Is Simple in the Moonlight"	Julian Casablancas	4:15
Total length:			34:43

Personnel

• Julian Casablancas – vocals
• Albert Hammond, Jr. – guitar, backing vocals
• Nick Valensi – guitar, backing vocals
• Nikolai Fraiture – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Fabrizio Moretti – drums
• Joe Chiccarelli – producer
• Gus Oberg – engineer, producer
• Justin Gerrish – assistant engineer
• Guy Pouppez – album cover painting

Release timeline

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
Australia	March 18, 2011	RCA	CD, LP
United Kingdom	March 21, 2011	Rough Trade
United States	March 22, 2011	RCA