The Strokes - Heart In A Cage Single Review

The Strokes

Heart In A Cage

Single Review

New York, New York, a city so great they named it twice and can also boast a proud heritage of spawning some of America's most important and influential bands over the last 30 years The Dolls (of course of the same name), The Beastie Boys, The Ramones, Talking Heads, the list could go on.

The Strokes are now well established and could find themselves in the NYC hall of fame soon enough, as long as they keep pumping out songs that their undoubted quality demands. I am happy to report that 'Heart in a Cage' continues where we left off, after the recent success of 'Juicebox' and the second release off of their third studio album First Impressions of Earth.

Recorded in the band's rehearsal room with producer David Kahne, the definitive "Strokes Sound" is easy to recognise. It blasts in with rolling drums at the heart of a driving verse and Albert Hammond Jr's busy guitar lead pulling the strings, whilst Casablancas rolls out the anger through gruff crooning and sharp growls.

A subtle breakdown talks of paranoia, back stabbing and insufferable feelings of being trapped, breaking quickly back into a ferocious quick tempo, enhancing Casablancas feelings of suffocation and claustrophobia.

A sure fire top 10 hit from a band that continues to stamp their authority giving a willing audience exactly what they want, another notch on an already impressive resume.

Elliott Bambrough