Review: Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For the Young
Julian Casablancas – Phrazes For the Young (2009) [RCA] // Grade: B-
Sugary, summery and over before you know it: some things about Julian Casablancas will never change. There’s plenty of what you’d expect on this solo debut, from the singer’s signature croon to heaps of nearly perfect—and instantly earwiggy—hooks. But go in hoping for a lot of Strokesian guitar jangle, and you’ll be seriously disappointed; Phrazes is, above all, a synth-pop album. Sure, the melody and swagger of it suggest the Strokes by simple virtue of Casablancas writing the thing—but everything surrounding those base elements is a hazy, euphoric (and sometimes slightly bubblegum) electro-fuzz that feels as much like Buggles as it does anything Casablancas has done before.
Thank the producers for that. Seriously. That the album’s glittery sheen rarely clashes with Casablancas’ proclivity for voice and melody is just as much a testament to Jason Lader and Bright Eyes/Monsters of Folk mainstay Mike Mogis; one only has to look to Chris Cornell/Timbaland solo nightmare to see what happens when production and intent don’t jibe. Tracks like “Left & Right In The Dark”, with its Flock Of Seagulls guitar fades, and the stuttering breaks of “11th Dimension” may feel like roller-rink jams, but combined with Casablancas’ tinny whine (and lyrics like “your faith has got to be greater than your fear”) they assume something impossibly dark…and just a little heartbreaking. Even better is the slightly sideways “Ludlow Street” with its off-key banjo and off-time drum machine—a real boozy saloon jam with an opening overture so gorgeously ominous, it might be the best 15 seconds of the album. But then there’s the train-whistle guitars of “4 Chords Of The Apocalypse”. Or the down and dirty swagger of “Tourist”. Good ideas? Phrazes has them.
And that, ultimately, is its biggest downfall. Though every track features at least one really perfect moment, the layers upon layers of iconic hooks, harmonies, solos and always-at-11 vocals eventually melt into a hazy blob that screams JULIAN CASABLANCAS! just a little too loudly. Had each song highlighted its best three—hell, even five—ideas, Phrazes could’ve been the most remarkably catchy album of the year. As it stands, it’s pretty good—but too much of a good thing is still too much of a thing.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Interesting review, but you’ve compelled me to check it out. So… good work! I suppose I owe it to the guy at this point anyway, but I’m in it for that one perfect moment on every track. It’s gotta deserve a couple spins just for that.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:15 am
“11th Dimension” is as perfect of a pop song as there can be. It’s so 1983 carefree and like you said elicits images of roller-rinks and Mrs. Pac-Man. I was really hoping the rest of this album would just kind of follow that same path… fluffy with a tiny bit of substance.
But like you said, too many of the songs try to cram in too many ideas that derail them from being great songs to just merely good or OK ones.
That said I still like this better than any strokes output past Is This It.
That however is one awesome cover.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
The cover is soooo good. And the album definitely has its share of perfect moments, dedleg, but they tend to get washed over by all the stuff going on around them. My Pal told me earlier (and I totally agree) that he suspects it’ll get more enjoyable over time–at the very least, you’ll find more things to love about it the more often you listen. I know for me, the songs I liked best at first listen weren’t the ones I liked best at the time of this review.