{"id":456848,"date":"2026-05-19T15:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/456848\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T15:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:40:09","slug":"albert-hammond-jr-defends-the-strokes-intoxicatingly-good-reality-awaits-its-my-favourite-album-weve-ever-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/456848\/","title":{"rendered":"Albert Hammond Jr defends The Strokes\u2019 \u201cintoxicatingly good\u201d \u2018Reality Awaits\u2019: “It\u2019s my favourite album we\u2019ve ever done\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Albert Hammond Jr<\/a> has described The Strokes<\/a>\u2019 new album as \u201cintoxicatingly good\u201d and his \u201cfavourite\u201d thing they have ever done \u2013 following some fans criticising their latest singles.<\/p>\n

The New York indie icons started teasing new music earlier this year<\/a>, hinting to fans that they would \u201cbe in touch\u201d about a new release, before later confirming new album \u2018Reality Awaits\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The record will mark the highly anticipated follow-up to 2020\u2019s \u2018The New Abnormal<\/a>\u2019 and is set to arrive on June 26 (pre-order here<\/a>). So far, they have previewed it with the chic lead single \u2018Going Shopping<\/a>\u2019 and the nostalgic track \u2018Falling Out Of Love<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

However, the two tracks have received a mixed response from fans, with some praising them and others being less than impressed. Many of the complaints also seem to stem from the use of a vocoder on Julian Casablancas<\/a>\u2019 voice \u2013 giving it the same distinctive sound as seen on the hit 2013 Daft Punk<\/a> collab \u2018Instant Crush\u2019 and later tracks like 2020\u2019s \u2018At the Door\u2019.<\/p>\n

Now, guitarist and keyboard player Albert Hammond Jr has hit back at critics and described \u2018Reality Awaits\u2019 as his \u201cfavourite album\u201d The Strokes have ever done.<\/p>\n

After sharing a photo to celebrate the release of latest track \u2018Falling Out Of Love\u2019, numerous fans took to the Instagram comment section to share their thoughts on the new music. Many of which were quick to criticise the latest track for the use of the vocoder, while some said that they were confused about why people were so against it.<\/p>\n

In response to one comment, which urged Hammond to admit that even he \u201cdoesn\u2019t like\u201d the new latest track, the artist defended the new material and praised it as reigniting his love for the band.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my favourite album we\u2019ve ever done. I can\u2019t express how beautiful it is,\u201d he replied. \u201cI listen to the whole thing and wanna start from the beginning again. It grows and grows and becomes intoxicatingly good.\u201d<\/p>\n

His comments align with what he said in a recently-resurfaced interview from 2023<\/a>, where he said that the band were focusing their efforts on \u201cworking on what we are excited about\u201d and leaning into the things \u201cthat brings us joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

More recently, Hammond also claimed again that working with Rick Rubin<\/a> on the record was \u201cone of his favourite recording experiences\u201d.<\/a> \u201cI don\u2019t think if I told you what it looked like and what it was, you\u2019d fully understand the \u2018magical-ness\u2019 of where we were and how it was to record like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really think what excites me about wanting to play music and continue doing it is, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve written our best songs yet. I really feel that in my gut.\u201d<\/p>\n

When \u2018Going Shopping\u2019 dropped last month, NME gave the single a three-star review <\/a>and described it as a song that \u201cdoesn\u2019t feel bold\u201d but also \u201cdoes avoid playing anything safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t definitively place its sound on any of The Strokes\u2019 previous six albums, but the lack of spirit and tenacity \u2013 save for a guitar solo at the end \u2013 is noticeable,\u201d the review read. \u201c\u2018If you\u2019re better than me you don\u2019t have to judge me\u2019, signs off Casablancas, with an imaginary raised eyebrow. But perhaps even he would admit that The Strokes are better than this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the song was released, The Strokes have performed at Coachella 2026<\/a> \u2013 where they called out the CIA and the United States government<\/a> in their set \u2013 and played new material on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.<\/a><\/p>\n

The band are now gearing up for more festival appearances at Bonnaroo, Summer Sonic and more, and\u00a0have also announced a huge tour visiting the UK, North America, Europe and Japan.<\/a> It will be their first full run of headline dates in the UK and Ireland in over 20 years, and gigs include stops at London\u2019s O2.<\/p>\n

Support comes from Thundercat<\/a>, Cage the Elephant<\/a>, Hamilton Leithauser<\/a>, Fat White Family<\/a>, Alex Cameron and \u00d6L\u00dcM, and more dates have been added<\/a> due to huge demand. Find tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The tour will see The Strokes perform without guitarist Nick Valensi, and the band confirmed recently that he would be taking a \u201ctemporary break\u201d<\/a> ahead of their upcoming world tour.<\/p>\n

New music from the indie heroes comes after Julian Casablancas spoke in 2024 about \u201cstepping away\u201d from the band<\/a> to focus on his other group, The Voidz<\/a>. He did add, however, that \u201cit\u2019s a very cool day job that I\u2019m honoured to have, so I don\u2019t feel negatively about it\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Albert Hammond Jr has described The Strokes\u2019 new album as \u201cintoxicatingly good\u201d and his \u201cfavourite\u201d thing they have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,636,60,278,641],"class_list":["post-456848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-indie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-pop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}