For someone who doesn't seem to care much for his own generation, the album title Phrazes For The Young is either a mockery or an empty gesture — and probably a bit of both. Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas was born as wizened and cranky as a middle-aged Lou Reed, a pop-songwriting prodigy with a thousand dimly-lit New York stories to tell. Casablancas' solo debut had every right to explore Leonard Cohen-style dour mysticism or delve deeper into the Strokes' own world-weary psyche, but it turns out the only thing Casablancas is tired of is guitar rock.

Phrazes For The Young begins with a carnivalesque keyboard swirl atop a classic Strokes guitar chug, and opener "Out Of The Blue" soon launches into the kind of soaring, laser-sharp Euro-pop and "Volare"-esque "whoa-oh-oh"s last heard on a Tilt-A-Whirl ride in 1987. Those who cried "Cars!" at the sound of synths steering the Strokes' "12:51" will have a lot more trainspotting to do with Phrazes, from the Flock Of Seagulls-evoking echo of "Left & Right And In The Dark" to the New Order-taking "11th Dimension." It all amounts to an unexpected sugar rush that deftly removes the gritty, lo-fi taste of the Strokes without washing… read more »