The Strokes have shared ‘Falling Out Of Love’, the second single from their forthcoming seventh album Reality Awaits, due 26th June via Cult Records and RCA Records.
Where lead single ‘Going Shopping’ arrived sharp-edged and propulsive, ‘Falling Out Of Love’ drops the tempo entirely. Julian Casablancas’ vocal is brooding and unhurried, the arrangement sparse, the mood closer to late-night contemplation than the nervy energy of its predecessor.
There is a clear debt to Elvis Presley’s ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’, reframed from street level rather than from romance’s heights. It is one of the most melodically direct things The Strokes have released in years.
Reality Awaits was produced by Rick Rubin following sessions at a house on top of a mountain in Costa Rica, where the band reportedly performed every day as though playing a concert for the ocean. The album spans nine tracks and, at a reported ten minutes in total, represents an extraordinary compression of thought even by Strokes standards.
The album’s artwork was created by Johann Rashid and is based on Richard Prince’s 1989 photograph Untitled (Cowboy). The Strokes appear at Bonnaroo in June and Outside Lands later in the summer, with the Late Show With Stephen Colbert this week.
