Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

There seems to be a golden rule when it comes to side projects and solo albums, there are three well trodden paths to follow: 1) you can make a solid charming little album that never threatens to be classic but is a worthwhile none the less 2) your side project falls into irrelevance only to be appreciated by die hard fans or 3) you unleash all your creativity, all those half half baked ideas that would be diligently veto by your fellow band mates, and create a self indulgent but infinitely fascinating work. Albert Hammond Jnr. and Fabrizio Morretti fell into the first two categories respectively but Julian's solo debut Phrazes For The Young is definitely the latter of the three. On Phrazes For The Young it feels as if a weight has been lifted from Julian's shoulders and he can finally have some fun, without having to live up to the Strokes legacy. Phrazes For The Young is truly a baffling proposition, of all the Strokes Julian was always viewed as the least creative, the least driven. Reviewer after reviewer lined up to slam Julian for being a front man who had "Nothing to say". So the idea of the Strokes nonplussed ice cool front man coming out and making a self indulgent technicolour spectacular seemed unlikely, but low and behold, just before the Stroke were due to return to the study here stands Phrazes For The Young.

Now it becomes apparent from the word go that those Sci Fi influences that came to the forefront on First Impression On Earth must have emulated from Julian. The ice cool sliding sci fi guitar lines of Ize Of The World & Electricityscape return on Phrazes For The Young most notably on lead single 11th Dimension. The track is an absolute riot and it's absolute confirmation that beneath that ice cold exterior lays a goofy nerd who just wants to dance. Musically it's a time warping rollercoster ride, one minute it sounds as if we're dancing along to Prince's Let's Go Crazy the next minute we're back on an apocalyptic Electricityscape. It becomes instantly apparent that Julian is going to indulge all of his favourite musically influences even if they weren't quite cool enough to make it through the Strokes filter. Chords Of The Apocalypse sees Julian in full gospel balladeer mode, it feels like a loving tribute to sixties soul until a monstrous guitar solo from the year 3000 erupts out from the midst of the track taking it to another planet altogether. This is without doubt an album of styles clashes with a real schizophrenic personality, on Ludlow Street Julian is singing in his best folksy sea shanty meets Paul Simon tones over a skipping drum machine beat that feels like it's fallen off the back of Thom Yorke B side. Yet while Julian certainly is not Bob Dylan or Shawn McGowan he makes a good fist of an honest earthy Pogues-eske ballad. Of course by the time you've got your head around Julian's take on folk the album moves onto River Of Brakelights and it sounds as though we've been dropped into a boss battle on Streets of Rage.

Lyrically it's equally hard to pin down, one minute were reminiscing about lost loves, the next were in lost in an unrelenting rage, then we're on the a meteor, or in a volcano and then before you know it we're back in the local bar on Ludlow Street. Now while Julian will never be accused of being a street poet, he'll never be ranked along side Morrissey, Thom Yorke or Alex Turner, he does certainly have a knack for the sound byte. He seems able to throw out irresistible hooks and these magical turns of phrase at ease. On 11th Dimension he laughs at "Where Cities Come Together To Hate Each Other In The Name Of Sport", then on Ludlow St. he offers an irresistibly earnest hook;

It's a hell of way to start and album, like a sick nursery rhyme crammed full of bitterness, rejection and spite. Yet the beauty of the track is that Julian croons it with almost a wistful smile. It's not quite clear whether he's simple remorseful or whether he's laughing at his own actions with a shrug of the shoulders saying, "oh well, oops".

One of the most striking differences between Julian's solo work and his Strokes career is the track length. Most of the tracks on this album clock in at around five minutes or more, whereas the Strokes were always famous for their short punchy three minute rockers. In this way Phrazes For The Young is the anti-Stroke record, it long and open ended, while it may only be eight tracks long, these are eight long tracks, where the music is allowed to linger and evolve naturally. Every last idea is allowed to unfurl, even if it ends up going nowhere or being a complete contrast to the rest of the track. There are no editors here, this is an album of pure fantasy and exploration, whereas The Strokes at their best were about limits, about musical minimalism, everything was in it's right place, nothing overstayed it's welcome, self indulgence was outlawed, it was short sharp and to the point. Occasionally it feels as though Phrazes For The Young could have benefited from a ruthless editor as tracks to tend to drag on and wind around endlessly. And while this can be a sheer delight when your engrossed in a track like the album closer Tourist it can however, if your not feeling a particular track, begin to feel like torture especially, given Julian's tendency for long whiny croons.

Ultimately Phrazes For The Young is a success, it's a celebration of creativity, of silliness and self indulgence. It's never in danger of being a classic and none of the tracks can really stand alongside The Strokes classics, but then again they were never supposed to. Instead we are given a serious of glimpses into Julian's mind, we see all the great ideas rushing around, all these beautiful textures, off beat influences and crazy contrasts. It's remarkable that the album manages to hang together at all, yet it does, it's very schizophrenic nature binds it, not into a sharp focus product but into a giant following river of creativity and sci-fi posturing. Phrazes For The Young ultimately is the perfect title, rather than giving us these complete fully formed artistic works, we get these great phrases, an incredibly line here, a profound verse there. For each listener the experience will be different, you have to dive headlong into the oncoming torrent, you'll end up grabbing hold of whatever you can, whether it's an irresistible chorus, a cheeky one line, or a monstrous sci fi solo. In the end your swept away by the current, not quite sure what you've experienced, but really you don't care, because it was a hell of a ride and along the way there have been some unforgettable moments. So Phrazes For The Young may not be the finished article, it may not be a classic album, but it's far from forgettable, it's a more than worthwhile side project, and it most certainly won't leave you asking Is This It?

Purple Rain - Prince, Graceland - Paul Simon