Later this week, we’re getting a new album from the Strokes, one of the few big artists who didn’t decide to push back an LP release because of the global pandemic that’s currently got all of us shut up indoors. The New Abnormal is four days away from arrival, and the Strokes have already shared the promising-as-hell new singles “At The Door” and “Bad Decisions.” Today, they’ve got another one for us.
The new “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus,” like the other two New Abnormal tracks, pushes the classic Strokes sound into new territory. The Strokes have played around with the sound of ’80s synthpop before, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard them go all-in the way they do on “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus.” The song rides a twitchy, choppy keyboard riff — the kind of seasick and off-kilter sound that Julian Casablancas has already brought to his work with the Voidz. It’s a big, driving, catchy song, but it’s a weird one, too.
Lyrically, “Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus” deals with the conflicting urges toward maintaining a social life and toward staying home and saying fuck everything: “I want new friends, but they don’t want me / They’re making plans while I watch TV/ Thought it was you, but maybe it’s me/ I want new friends, but they don’t want me.” Now that fate has made that decision for us, it almost sounds nostalgic. Casablancas sells the chorus as something anthemic. Check it out below.
The New Abnormal is out 4/10 on Cult Records. Pre-order it here.
