This came out in 2003 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
“I want to be forgotten,” yearns Julian Casablancas of The Strokes right off the bat on their new record. Fat chance of that happening. Though, to be fair, you can see where he’s coming from.
Since they exploded onto the scene with their insanely hyped 2001 debut album Is This It?, Casablancas and co. have been the most scrutinized, publicized and idolized New York City band in decades. And this long-awaited sequel has been one of the most hotly anticipated discs of the year. With that kind of pressure, no wonder he wants to disappear.
Thankfully, though, Casablancas doesn’t retreat one step on this solid sophomore CD. Instead, he and his backing foursome stand their ground and stick to what they do better than anybody. Tight, bright and winningly consistent, the 33-minute Room On Fire might as well be titled Is This It Again? — its 11 songs stick religiously to the same sonic formula Julian unveiled two years ago.
Layers of choppy, churning guitars swirl together atop precise, propulsive post-punk backbeats. Casablancas’s vocals are underproduced and lightly dusted with distortion. All of these songs are fat-free noise-pop gems that get in, get out and make their point in about three minutes. There are no hotshot guest stars, no artsy flights of fancy, none of the self-indulgent horseplay to which many bands in their shoes would have resorted out of swelled ego, artistic confusion or insecure desperation.
Instead, Casablancas confidently cough up another batch of Strokes songs that effectively and efficiently condense the edgy angularity of Television, the garage-rock grit of The Stooges, the new-wave melodicism of The Cars and the romantic decadence of The Velvet Underground into their own unique brand of neo-noise-pop.
By the end of things, even Casablancas appears to be digging it. “I’ll be right back,” he promises to end the album. We’ll be waiting.
