September 29 2014 – September 23, 2014 marked the release of Julian Casablancas’s sophomore solo effort, Tyranny, and this time The Strokes front man is backed by band, The Voidz. Let it be warned early on: if you were looking for another Strokes album, this is not it. If you melted down a Strokes record into a tab of acid then that might be a more apt description of Tyranny’s sound. This is an album wherein Julian Casablancas has clearly exercised all of his creative freedom, and then some.
Casablancas eases the unassuming listener into the album with Take Me In Your Army, an unobtrusive, melodic tune that is not a far stretch from his first album, Phrazes for the Young, and then follows suit with Crunch Punch. While M.Utually A.Ssured D.Estruction rises in complexity compared to the former tracks, by the time the listener reaches the album’s first single, they are still almost entirely unprepared for the nearly 11 minute long endeavor that is Human Sadness:
Starting off as a tranquil, uncomplicated effort, it builds in intensity with a contrasting layering of electronic sound and vocals that fall anywhere from unintelligible and piercing to morose and peaceful. This song is easily the most ambitious of the twelve, and, if you can get through it, is also the most rewarding. Think: The Beatles’ A Day In A Life, if it were twice as long, twice as complicated and… written by Julian Casablancas.
Next up is the more commercial (if you can call any of Tyranny commercial) Where No Eagles Fly. With a driving, standout bass line, tormented vocals, and even a bit of organ, it serves as the album’s second single. Following this is the unexpected Father Electricity, a song that has a previously unheard refreshing Caribbean flavour.
For any listeners desperately searching in vain for a Strokes track amongst Casablancas’ musical innards, the closest they might come to this is Business Dog, solely as a result of its up tempo, melodic guitar riffs. It is its scratchy, wailing, indecipherable vocals that keep its place amongst the Tyranny tracks. Classic Casablancas fans may also be pacified by Dare I Care, an electronic-heavy, almost Bollywood-esque song whose latter half is as close to pop as we might ever expect Casablancas to come.
The album closes with Off to War…, a morose, hopeless track that sounds as though its writer might be disintegrating as a result of his previous grandiose musical efforts. It is the musical epitome of Tyranny heaving its final breath.
What may sound like noise to an uninterested listener is actually a lofty and ambitious solo effort that is far more interesting than anything Casablancas has ever done with The Strokes. Its complexity is also its pitfall, making it potentially unreachable for commercial-oriented listeners. It is a densely written creation to which one might listen whilst staring at their ceiling during an existential crisis.
Verdict – 4.5 out of 5 – Tyranny by Julian Casablancas + The Voidz: with a sound that is as allusive and indefinable as its maker, Tyranny is Julian Casablancas’s most intricate, stimulating release to date.
