With 2006's FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF EARTH, the Strokes have not only crafted an album that cracks the 36-minute mark, they've also opted for a bolder sound, courtesy of veteran producer David Kahne. While these changes don't mean a drastically different direction for the New York City-based rock band, they do indicate that frontman Julian Casablancas and the boys are in a more adventurous mode.

EARTH's initial single, the driving, hard-edged “Juicebox,” features Casablancas giving a raspy vocal performance that sounds more impassioned than anything on the group's previous outings, while “On the Other Side” is an almost breezy tune that has the singer recalling the plaintive delivery of Bono. Throughout the record, drummer Fab Moretti and bassist Nikolai Fraiture anchor the proceedings with unflappable rhythmic precision, allowing guitarists Albert Hammond, Jr., and Nick Valensi the freedom to lay down alternately searing and chiming six-string lines that add palpable verve to these 14 tunes. A band that has seen both over-the-top hype and its inevitable backlash, the Strokes seem eager to venture forward on FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF EARTH, an album that should not only quiet accusations of sonic sameness but win over new fans.

What the critics say…

Spin (p.88) – “Jules' croon remains one of the most beautiful messes in contemporary music…” – Grade: B-
Entertainment Weekly (p.75) – “If it feels more like a showcase of new approaches and ideas than of perfectly turned songs, it's still a hot ride.” – Grade: B+
Q (p.121) – Ranked #40 in Q Magazine's “100 Greatest Albums of 2006” – “[F]rontman Julian Casablancas still sounded remarkably surly.”
Uncut (p.68) – 3 stars out of 5 – “FIRST IMPRESSIONS…is the sound of a group coming back to earth after a remarkable rocket-ride and knuckling down to their task.”
Magnet (p.113) – “The drum-less, string-adorned ‘Ask Me Anything’ is a beautiful mid-record palate cleanser.”
Mojo (Publisher) (p.88) – 3 stars out of 5 – “[Electricityscape] is a dalliance with rock bombast that actually works, its pummelling drums, cyclical guitar strafes and urban melodrama channelling the spirit of Springsteen's ‘Born To Run’.”