Their first album in six years, “Reality Awaits” is introduced by lead single “Going Shopping” — a significant return for a band that helped define early-2000s indie rock. Known for their cool detachment and sharp, city-centric storytelling, The Strokes have long explored themes of disillusionment and modern life. “Going Shopping” builds directly on that legacy, but with a sharper, more explicitly contemporary edge. Beneath its casual title lies a pointed meditation on consumer culture and escapism.

Contextually, the track feels like both a continuation and a subtle escalation. The Strokes have always captured the emotional texture of urban life, but here, that world feels more fragmented and self-aware. The song’s imagery — malls, stockbrokers, and surreal figures — leans into absurdity while reflecting a deeper anxiety about modern existence.

The contrast is captured early in the line, “Solidarity can be difficult / When you got cool stuff to lose” — a blunt acknowledgement of how material comfort can dull collective awareness. It is one of the song’s clearest thematic anchors, tying personal indulgence to a broader social disengagement. Elsewhere, lines like “I can’t wait, I’m goin’ shoppin’” feel intentionally hollow, almost satirical, repeating like a mantra that the speaker both believes and resents.

Sonically, “Going Shopping” mirrors this push-and-pull. The track sits in a relaxed, mid-tempo groove, with guitars that feel clean but slightly muted — less jagged than the band’s early work, and more in line with the polished textures of “The New Abnormal.” There is a lightness to the arrangement — a breeziness that never fully lifts off. Instead, the rhythm drifts, reinforcing the song’s thematic sense of inertia.

However, one of the more divisive elements is the use of autotune on lead singer Julian Casablanca’s vocals. While The Strokes have experimented with vocal effects before, the autotune in this instance lands in an awkward middle ground. It does not feel raw enough to match the band’s original garage rock ethos, but it also does not push far enough into experimentation to feel intentional or transformative. Instead, it comes across as slightly off-putting — polished in a way that clashes with the track’s otherwise subdued, organic instrumentation.

Casablancas’ delivery still carries its signature detachment, now layered with a subtle weariness, as if the persona he is embodying is caught in a loop he can’t escape. The vocals blend into the instrumentation rather than cutting through it, which enhances the song’s atmosphere but, combined with the autotune, can dilute its emotional clarity.

Ultimately, “Going Shopping” succeeds most in its conceptual cohesion. The lyrics, sound, and overall tone all point toward the same idea: the strange, inescapable pull of a modern consumer life. It is a song about knowing better, yet doing the wrong thing anyway. Whether that subtlety reads as sophistication or stagnation depends on the listener. As a lead single, it is an intriguing reintroduction — it does not aim to shock or reinvent The Strokes’ sound, but it does refine their long-standing preoccupation with detachment into something more explicitly tied to the present moment.

—Staff writer Leah Choi can be reached at [email protected].