At this point, The Strokes surely don’t need a reason to headline Coachella and Bonnaroo even when they’re six years removed from their newest material, though today we’ve learned that the band’s festival circuit this summer may have been in anticipation of their seventh album, Reality Awaits. The new project was teased across the official Strokes social media accounts this morning, with more details surely coming soon. “In the flesh, it’s even sexier,” the band promised. Oh! OK!
Despite the not-uncharacteristic gap between records for the band, frontman Julian Casablancas released his third album with The Voidz since The New Abnormal dropped in 2020. Additionally, guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. released his expansive Melodies on Hiatus album, other guitarist Nick Valensi released an EP with his new wave project CRX, and bassist Nikolai Fraiture dropped an EP with his group Summer Moon. I imagine drummer Fabrizio Moretti got up to something, too.
Check out the album teaser below, which features what we can only assume is an instrumental snippet of a new Strokes song, and expect a fleshy new album from the band sometime this summer. In the meantime, catch up with Casablancas via our 2024 cover feature here.
