New York City-based rock band The Strokes have announced they will be releasing a new album, titled The New Abnormal.
The news comes seven years after the release of their previous album, Comedown Machine, in March 2013.
After first being teased last Friday by guitarist Albert Hammond Jr., The New Abnormal was officially confirmed on Tuesday morning. It’s scheduled to drop on Friday, April 10 through Cult Records — the band’s own record label — and will feature nine brand-new tracks.
Ahead of the release, Hammond Jr., frontman Julian Casablancas and the rest of the band have treated their fans to a first taste of the album, too. The Strokes recently shared a brand-new single called At the Door.
Initially, The Strokes debuted the mysterious animated music video for At the Door on Monday night during an exclusive “concert rally” in Durham, N.H., after Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders gave a stirring campaign speech.
Now, At the Door is available to listeners worldwide. It serves as the Hard to Explain rockers’ first original music since 2016’s Future, Present, Past EP.
Fans who were signed up to The Strokes’ online newsletter received a message from the band following the announcement.
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“Friends! So much talk, so much chatter, such a fuss. It’s probably time for a little talk, isn’t it?” the message read. “Well, this time we’re happy to confirm it’s all true. Our new LP The New Abnormal will be released April 10, 2020 and you can pre-order, pre-add, pre-save it, and in general, just be pre-warned of its imminent arrival.
“Thanks for your patience,” the band added. “We were just waiting for the right moment to tell you. Good talk.”
Though At the Door is currently the only new song with an official studio release, The Strokes have played three of the other nine upcoming songs from The New Abnormal live in concert since last May.
On May 13, the band debuted The Adults Are Talking — the first indication of a new album — and have played the song twice since. Another tracked, Ode to the Mets, was played only once when it premiered at The Strokes’ New Year’s Eve concert at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
A third track, Bad Decisions, was played live on Monday night at Sanders’ rally after the band confirmed its forthcoming album release date.
As of this writing, it’s currently unclear who is producing The New Abnormal, however Hammond Jr.’s father, Albert Hammond Sr., suggested that The Strokes were working with legendary producer Rick Rubin during an interview with the West Australian in 2017.
On the other hand, Gordon Raphael — the producer of the band’s first two records, Is This It (2001) and Room On Fire (2003) — has been teasing his the rekindling of his relationship with The Strokes recently through Instagram.
The unique artwork for The New Abnormal comes from the late Haitian-Puerto Rican artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The neo-expressionism piece is called Bird on Money and was created in 1981, seven years before Basquiat’s death.
At the Door is now available through all major streaming platforms.
Additionally, physical and digital copies of The New Abnormal are now up for pre-order.
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