What is it About The Strokes?

Another month passes, and to no surprise, several Strokes songs find their way onto my February YouTube playlist. Some bands you have love affairs with, some you leave in the past, but me and The Strokes are in a long-term marriage, set to last. What is it about The Strokes that people have loved from all over the world? What makes their sound so singular and satisfying? As a fan for almost a decade now (wow), and a person with some musical knowledge, I try to answer this question.

Aka here is a one-page love letter to The Strokes.

Wait, who are The Strokes?

The Strokes are an American indie-rock band that emerged in New York City in the early 2000’s. In fact, The Strokes are the indie-rock band that emerged in the 2000’s. Some say they saved the genre, and they inspired generations of indie-bands that followed and contemporaries alike. (Alex Turner of The Arctic Monkeys is an unabashed Strokes fan, popularly putting the lyric “I just wanted to be one of The Strokes” in the AM song “Star Treatment“.) The band consists of Julian Casablancas (singer), Albert Hammond Jr. (rhythm guitarist), Nick Valensi (lead guitarist), Nikolai Fraiture (bassist), and Fabrizio Moretti (drummer). Their first album, Is This It (2001), won them “widespread critical acclaim.” Their last album, The New Abnormal, was released in 2020. Lead singer Julian Casablancas is also currently active with a band called “The Voidz.”

A Singular Approach to Guitar Playing

It is probably safe to say, The Strokes’ guitar harmonies and just guitar playing in general make up a large part of their sound. A few predictable patterns emerge in guitarists Valensi and Hammond Jr.’s parts. Arpeggios, high-tempo down strumming, and harmonization of the two guitars are some important ones. While Hammond Jr. downstrums a three or four note chord a speed so fast it looks like his hand will fall off, Valensi downstrums the exact same thing, or downstrums a harmony, or plays a melody. Often these minimal chords of just three to five notes are arpeggiated over the down-picking, which is omnipresent throughout the music.

These predictable, precise patterns of The Strokes produce a calculated, purposeful sound relative to other indie-bands. Other elements, like the use of silence, and the fact that The Strokes play notes very high up on the guitar (or at a higher pitch) also add to their uniqueness. For example, “Ize of the World” cuts off mid-word during a chorus (a really cool ending) and the silence of one guitar while another plays is in general used very meticulously. In “Reptillia” for example, only Valensi plays the verses, Hammond Jr. plays the pre-chorus, and then both play the chorus.

There is something orchestral with what The Strokes did with guitars. You get the feeling the music was composed, not merely written or put together. And singer Julian Casablancas did compose, writing a lot of the guitar parts himself for the band. Singer and pianist Regina Spektor, who sang with The Strokes on the single “Modern Girls & Old Fashioned Men“, said in an interview: “It feels like classical music. Except done with, like, awesome distortion too.” She noted the way The Strokes use tension and release reminded her of the classical world.

And no one downstrums like the Strokes. Instead of strumming a variation of up and down, as most chords are played on guitar, downstrumming produces a cleaner-cut, static sort of sound, adding to the cleanliness and precision The Strokes exude. But this is still messy, and this is still rock: the distorted, lo-fi quality of the guitar and recordings serves as a counterpoint to this precision. This combined with the higher-pitch of their melodies, their arpeggios, and you have something singular and new, and this only within the guitar work.

Voice as Instrument

With the lo-fi quality of Julian’s singing, it can be difficult to make out what he is saying. But this is purposeful. His voice will function a lot like the guitar melodies. Just the mixture of what is going on with the instruments and where Julian is going sonically are aiming at using the vocals to add another layer of harmony and emotion, or to put the defining last layer on the cake, and give you some words to chew on. At one point in “Ize of the World” for example, Julian sings the lyrics to the pitch of the guitar riff, and it’s hard to tell the two sounds apart. This is another beautiful part of The Strokes’ recipe. A lot of music relies on lyrics and the story the lyrics are telling to carry the song and have it work for the listener. I think The Strokes’ position on the opposite pole of this spectrum may account for the global success they accrued. You don’t have to understand what Julian is saying to love a Strokes song. They exude this strong, sonic power, and Julian’s voice is a part of this sonic machine. And it doesn’t hurt that his voice is gorgeous.

Associative Lyrical Movement

But let’s not discount Julian’s lyrical force. Some songs, like the more popular “You Only Live Once“, have the vocals at the forefront of the song, and his lyric writing is simple and beautiful. In general, Julian’s lyrics have this effortless feel to them, like he woke up in his dirty New York City apartment and wrote them on a sticky note in a day. But this is the product of careful effort. Julian cites Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground as a lyrical influence, stating in a Rolling Stone interview, “The way Lou Reed wrote and sang about drugs and sex, about the people around him- it was so matter-of-fact.” It is clear he prefers matter-of-fact, simple language, and the simplicity of his lyrics allow many people to resonate with them. They are like the thoughts we have in the corners of our life, in transit or before we fall asleep. (Then there is another genre of his lyrics which are vaguely political, an expression of his strong interest in politics.)

“Associative lyrical movement” is a phrase I made up (call me Shakespeare), but in prose and poetry, associative movement is moving between sections in a “free-form” style, like the way we naturally make connections. This is opposed to most writing, which is chronological. Julian very rarely tells a story from beginning to end. I mean, this is notable. Just think of how many Arctic Monkeys songs are immersive stories. His writing is more associative and free form, making it very intimate.

Tension and Release

For lack of better terminology, if songs are lines, the “slope” of Strokes songs is much steeper than a lot of other music. The verses are gateways to choruses that deliver a lot of relief and satisfaction. A lot of other indie artists are more “flat” in this sense: There is not much emotional difference between the verse and chorus. We’re on a relatively flat line throughout, with the chorus taking us somewhere different or just a little more intense.

The Strokes aren’t interested in this. The basic Strokes formula is this: a relatively “casual” verse. Fast guitar down-picking, another distorted guitar playing a melody layered on top. Then the chorus. The musical tension of the guitars breaks and we reach a center. Julian sustains longer notes, juxtaposed against the symphony of guitar, drums, and bass. Evocative lyrics that you don’t quite get but want to, that touch some deep part of you. Two guitars in distorted conversation with one another. And there. You have the reason the lead singer of the Killers “told NME that he felt “depressed” after hearing The Strokes’ [debut] album Is This It.

And something else

In psychology, there are sufficient, contributing, and necessary variables. These same concepts can be applied to music. A sufficient variable can produce a result in and of itself, a necessary variable is necessary in order for a result to occur, and contributing variables contribute to the result we want. When thinking about what makes a band great, no one variable is sufficient. Instead, all the necessary variables must be present, and probably many contributing variables as well. All the individual band members’ hard work, technique, personalities, circumstances, taste, goals, and the outputs these produce, work in their favor and result in beautiful music. A threshold was crossed, and it is hard to ascertain when or what exactly crosses art over this threshold of beauty and quality. Time, hard work, and goals are necessary variables, and other things like natural talent, personal taste, support from others, contribute to artists’ success.

Many bands do a lot of the things on my list, and there are Strokes songs that don’t. I think these elements make up important parts of their sound, and ultimately some artists tap into a realm, a frequency, that seperates music that resonates with people and music that doesn’t. Beyond a point, it is pretty explicable why I can listen to The Strokes for years and every song still feels new. Or worn out only like a second-hand jacket.