with this being one of the very few full albums i thoroughly enjoy throughout its entirety, i feel like it might be best to take this song by song, recapping my overall sentiment towards the album at the end.

- THE ADULTS ARE TALKING
i think this song was (one of) my first exposures to the Strokes. though i think i started off quite enjoying it, having gotten into the arctic monkeys as my first "real" musical interest a year or two before, its sound has just kept growing on me in a way that i think is quite unique to the Strokes for me. there's just a certain kind of oomph to their music, some difficult to place vibe that just screams throughout the entire album. it's amazing, and it pisses me off quite actively that i can't put it to words. for someone with a lot of fancy words up their sleeve and a lot of thinking going on, i can't stand how dumbfounded i can get when it comes to the music i like. no fancy words, no weird metaphors, it just fucking hits, and it hits HARD.

the one thing that i think i have managed to pick out, is that good drums are what elevate a song to that highest point for me, like the small buildup at 2:40. it brings me a genuine euphoria that i can't quite find elsewhere, i feel it in my skin and my heart and i can feel my eyes mellow out as i sink just a little deeper into my chair. moments like this are what tends to define my favourite songs regardless of what brings it on, be it drums or will toledo singing "I didn't want you to hear, that shake in my voice. my pain is my own" in the most exquisite angsty way possible.

- SELFLESS
"please don't be long" etc etc whatever. i hate the lyrics to this one, but julian's singing carries it hard. i'm a sucker for whiney singing and it just hits, end of. the instrumentation is fucking juicy still, i feel like they could sing just about any old asinine bullshit with this backing track and it would find its way onto my playlist

- BROOKLYN BRIDGE TO CHORUS
doo doo doo too doo do do do, na na na but they don't want me. juicy fucking drums in the back, smooth vocals, the perfect storm, i think that this one kind of sums up what the Strokes make me feel. it's the quintessential example of a Strokes song in my head, regardless of how untrue that might be when looking to their overall discography. this is what i want and what i come looking for anytime i put on one of their songs. i hate sounding pretentious but fuck do i love this album.

- BAD DECISIONS
the little "oh" before some of the "makin bad decisions" hits, along with the small stumbles and imperfections in the vocals. i think i don't quite get my mind when it comes to this, as i generally really hate it when people mumble in songs or put on a careless/bored charade. why is this different? it is so clearly something i might have chalked up to lazy vocals and/or pretentious acting if this were a different song/medium. i don't have an answer.

- ETERNAL SUMMER
cumming my fucking head off i love this song so much it is unreal. i feel like it is what happens when the delicious instruments and juicy vocals come together with lyrics that hold personal meaning to me. the mix of the singy vocals and the raspy half-yelling is great, "they got thuh remedhayy". but they won't let it happen. having seen julian comment on some current affairs and the band's protesting actions in recent live shows, i feel a little more seen in songs like this. i feel like it comes from a place that i am very personally familiar with. the power is in their hands, they're human, why won't they let it happen?

- AT THE DOOR
"use me like an oar, and get yourself to shore" i haven't listened to this one enough, which is in no part because i think it's bad. the tempo/tone change is immaculate. not much more to say.

- WHY ARE SUNDAYS SO DEPRESSING
also one of the first of their songs i listened to, also one of their most popular songs as far as i know. i love it, but to say it surpasses most of this album goes too far for me. the electronic "wowow" is genius, it never ceases to hit. i think this track might not hold up as well compared to the others after having listened to it so much. it is amazing in its own right, i've just grown to think that other tracks on the album do all of its individual parts better, with its whole just not gripping me as much as it used to.

- NOT THE SAME ANYMORE
probably my least favourite song on the album? it's fine, nothing much wrong with it. it moreso speaks of the heights the rest of the album reaches for me. "i couldn't change". even now i find myself wanting to rush this section to get onto the next song.

- ODE TO THE METS
i've seen someone say this is the worst song on the album and it reminded me how we evolved from apes. again, i can't put it to words. the ethereal melody at the start, slow melancholic vocals, the overall build throughout the song, "cut you some slack", "sizes you up, plans his attack", ...drums please, fab. but now you gotta do something special for me. i will not show my teeth too quick. whatever man, i don't know i'm sat here listening to the song and all that my mind can regurgitate is the lyrics. why are they so striking? what are they putting into this synth? is it even a synth??

if there is ever a chance to do so, listen to this song on a large speaker, a good pair of headphones, something that fills the space of either the room or your body. it reverberates and shakes everything you have with it, it makes me sleepy and happy, sad and yearning, it's what music is about in the end. "painful, shameful" i can't imagine my wedding without this song somewhere in the evening, i want it with me when i'm at my happiest, i hope for it to stay with me when i have kids of my own. if she's a girl, i'll try and name her Robin, i hope she'll love you like i do, and before then, i hope to find others who can feel this song like i do. "drums please" love



CONCLUSION
to close off with my thoughts on the overall album, i think it easily falls into my top three. while i adore almost every single track on here, i do feel like there could have been a little more variety. i love pizza, always will, but have me eat it five days in a row and i might just end up not feeling like a sixth. while i think the album gets close to striking a good balance, i do find myself lulling away a little before being woken up with a handjob by Ode To The Mets. which like, i don't mind, but it's a shame that there is this dip in the experience when listening to the album in one sitting.

however, taking all of the individual tracks into consideration, this in no way knocks it below a 9 for me. i would probably put it at a 9.3 :)