After years of silence, cryptic appearances, and side projects pulling the band in different directions, The Strokes have officially returned with two new singles: Going Shopping and Falling out of Love the first glimpses into their upcoming album Reality Awaits.
Set to arrive this summer, the record marks the band’s first full-length project in six years since The New Abnormal (2020). The artwork for Falling out of Love, created by artist Glenn Pruyn, features cold metallic textures and retro-futurist imagery that mirror the detached and reflective mood surrounding this new era of the band.
For a group whose legacy was built on cool detachment and downtown decay, the comeback feels strangely self-aware. Not louder. Not nostalgic. Just older, sharper, and more conscious of time passing.
A Different Kind of Return
The Strokes have reunited many times before, but Falling out of Love feels different. Instead of chasing the raw garage-rock urgency that defined Is This It, the song leans into atmosphere and emotional distance.
The production feels cleaner yet melancholic somewhere between the sleek futurism of Comedown Machine and the bruised intimacy of The New Abnormal. Julian Casablancas’ voice sounds tired in a deliberate way, drifting through the track rather than dominating it.
There’s still coolness here, but it no longer feels effortless. That tension gives the song its weight.
From NYC Revivalists to Survivors
When The Strokes emerged in the early 2000s, they became the face of a new rock revival. Their music revived garage rock aesthetics while making them feel modern, fashionable, and emotionally detached.
But over time, the band evolved beyond that initial image. Albums like Angles, Comedown Machine, and The New Abnormal slowly traded youthful arrogance for uncertainty, exhaustion, and experimentation.
Now, with Reality Awaits, The Strokes seem less interested in reclaiming the past than confronting what comes after it.
“Reality Awaits”
Even the title Reality Awaits feels telling.
Where earlier Strokes records captured nightlife, escape, and emotional avoidance, this new era appears more grounded almost like the band acknowledging the weight of adulthood, distance, and survival.
The artwork for Falling out of Love reflects this shift perfectly: cold metallic imagery, retro-futurist textures, and a sense of isolation hidden beneath sleek design.
It doesn’t look like a comeback trying to relive 2001.
It looks like a band staring forward instead.
Where The Strokes Stand Now
More than two decades after reshaping indie rock, The Strokes no longer need to prove they can save rock music again.
What makes their return compelling now is something else: their willingness to age without fully abandoning the tension and disconnection that made them important in the first place.
If Falling out of Love is any indication, Reality Awaits may not be a revival record.
It may be a reflection record.