The Strokes - Reality Awaits

Format: CD Six years on from The New Abnormal, The Strokes return with Reality Awaits, their seventh album, folding post-comeback momentum into a tighter, more direct set. Sessions with Rick Rubin in Costa Rica hint at a stripped, performance-led approach, and the lead cut 'Going Shopping' lands with that familiar Casablancas drawl riding clipped guitars and dry rhythm section punch. Elsewhere, titles 'Lonely In The Future' and 'Falling Out Of Love' suggest the band continuing the reflective streak that marked their 2020 resurgence, now sharpened to shorter form. The rollout leans playful - mailing cassette singles to fans, previewing material live before streaming drop - a nod to physical-era rituals reframed for a post-digital audience.