By: David Schultz

In 2001, The Strokes unleashed the much-hyped Is This It, solidifying their position as the poster boys of the hipster-cool New York scene. Although their debut album lived up to the hype, the same couldn't be said for their dreary 2003 follow-up, Room On Fire. With the first high-profile release of the New Year, the Strokes kick off 2006 with the more polished, more mature First Impressions Of Earth. The Strokes haven't abandoned the stripped down sound that earned them acclaim. Rather, they've finely honed it. Instead of channeling Tom Verlaine or the Velvet Underground's gritty New York sound, the Strokes, with their signature staccato guitars and straightforward but powerful drums, are developing their own.

On the whole, First Impressions has a cleaner, fresher sound than their two prior releases. With David Kahne replacing longtime producer Gordon Raphael, lead singer Julian Casblancas no longer sounds like he's singing in a different room, trying to be heard above the noise. For this outing, Casablancas now appears to have been invited into the same room as the rest of the band and given a better microphone. Although given room to belt out some of his trademark howls, Casablancas tones it down, showing some vocal versatility. Guitarists Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi and bassist Nikolai Fraiture keep things simple but forceful. The relatively modest song lengths give their in-your-face riffs a stark, hit-and-run feel. Drummer Fabrizio Moretti invaluably keeps the whole thing grounded and it would be hard to imagine the Strokes getting the same feel with a different drummer.

Emblematic of First Impressions, the lead single "Juicebox" epitomizes the band's growth. Containing the expected growling guitars behind Casablancas' strong vocals, there is a crispness to the track that's been missing from their prior releases. With its sparse opening evolving into a rumbling mix of guitars, "Evening Sun" captures the band stylishly pulling out their Velvet Underground tricks. The band experiments with some new sounds, incorporating Valensi's Mellotron into "Ask Me Anything" and bafflingly integrating a chorus right out of Barry Manilow's "Mandy" into the otherwise hip "Razorblade." First Impressions opens briskly, with "You Only Live Once," gallops along nicely through "Heart In A Cage" (providing a nice couplet with "Juicebox"), drifts into a U2 worthy climax on "Fear Of Sleep" before closing with the jaunty, upbeat "Red Light." Even the uninspired, formulaic songs like "On The Other Side," "15 Minutes" and "Killing Lies" possess a nice sharp beat and hardly detract from the overall album.

Since their debut, The Strokes have been a polarizing force amongst music fans. Be it a dispute over whether Casablancas and Hammond's silver-spoon upbringing rob the band of ever possessing street credibility or whether the band deserved the hype lavished upon them in their infancy, The Strokes have always provoked animated discussion. Their tertiary effort won't serve to answer any of the questions, save one that has dogged throughout their short career, will they last? Reigning in their less defined impulses on First Impressions, the Strokes demonstrate a maturity and control demonstrating that they will not only last, but should be unveiling creative, intelligent and edgy music for many years to come.

Labels: The Strokes