.png)
The Strokes New Album Announcement and Single
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
Yesterday (April 6th ) The Strokes made an Instagram post teasing a new album called “Reality Awaits” with a snippet of audio that we would soon find to be a single named “Going Shopping” released the following day. Today (April 7th ), we have received the full announcement and the release of that single. Along with the announcement, we now know the track list, album art, and release date (previously only announced as summer 2026).
This has been a highly awaited and teased release. Previous to this announcement, fans only had rumors of a supposed album being recorded. Eventually, in an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience, famed producer and now author/guru Rick Rubin, who had worked with the band on their most recent critically acclaimed album “The New Abnormal”, shared a bit of inside news as he disclosed the band had been recording in Costa Rica in a mountain-top house they had rented.
“So they’re playing… It’s like they’re doing a concert for the ocean, on top of a mountain,” he explained.
Later members of The Strokes themselves described the “magical” experience of recording with Rubin, but also in this location.
Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. furthered the discussion, adding, “I don’t think if I told what it looked like and what it was, you’d fully understand the ‘magical-ness’ of where we were and how it was to record like that.”
The album has been rumored to be a global hodgepodge; supposedly, there were many other locations besides Costa Rica where sessions were held. This is all great in theory, when a century-defining album or film is released, we love to go back and see the process, studying it for it’s potential to shape the way we work from here on out. The reality is, sometimes the process, no matter how sacred or detailed (or magical), can be very detached and in no way correlate to the final product.
The lead single for “Reality Awaits” has already hit mixed reviews on day one. For the first time, the signature auto-tuned vocals of frontman Julian Casablancas are being featured in a The Strokes song rather than a The Voidz tune (his experimental rock side project), Daft Punk track, or a Casablancas solo LP. Fans describe a love/hate relationship with the direction he has gone as a vocalist and perhaps songwriter. And as much of a mega fan I may be, I have to agree.
There have been weaker moments for the band, as “First Impressions Of Earth” is not the strongest album and may have seemed like a signal of decline at the time. Looking back, it was simply a few bad songs amidst one of the most consistent and solid band careers ever. We can hope this is the case here, or that the album trends better than this singular song.
Stated by Julian as being more of a business while his other band, The Voidz, was for fun and experimentation, The Strokes were supposed to be a safe bet to return to time and time again. Coming off the flop of an album, “Like All Before You” from The Voidz, many fans were hoping that the next release would course correct. It would be forgivable to become a bit too experimental with a side project, but to bring the same failing elements with you to a new release for a separate band?
As for the single itself, it harkens back to a nostalgic side of the band’s past, dipping into references to “threat of joy” and the band’s first two albums. But there is a brand new jangly, 'The Smiths'-like element that seems to have ignited since 2020 with the release of their most recent LP, much less reliant on their old faithful simplistic and strong riffs, exchanging them for looser ones. While the two bands have previously been very distinct elements, there is now an undeniable binding between The Strokes and The Voidz in both writing and production. As heartbreaking as it is to cover my favorite band in this manner, it is the reality of the time we are in.
Comments