Lead single “Going Shopping” is a jaunty easy-going track with gratuitous Auto-Tune, even by Julian Casablancas’ standards. The single was previously shared with a lucky 100 fans by mailed cassette tape, of course. Undergirded by a steady drumbeat and a beachy guitar thrum, Casablancas goes back and forth between the virtues of a quiet country life and the urban jungle’s addictive chaos. “The worse reality gets, the less you wanna hear about it / Solidarity can be difficult / When you got cool stuff to lose,” he philosophizes, in typical style.
The New Abnormal came out in 2020 and earned the Strokes a Best Rock Album Grammy, the band’s first. It was produced by Rick Rubin, who has returned to produce Reality Awaits. The new LP’s cover art features Richard Prince’s 1989 painting “Untitled (Cowboy).” The Strokes will perform at Coachella this weekend, and will headline Bonnaroo and Outside Lands later this summer. Listen to “Going Shopping” and check out the Reality Awaits artwork and tracklist below.
Psycho Shit
Dine N’Dash
Lonely In The Future
Falling Out Of Love
Going To Babble On
Going Shopping
Liar’s Remorse
The Fruits Of Conquest
Pros And Cons
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