The Strokes's fifth studio album, "Comedown Machine," clocks in at around 40 minutes, and the band makes almost every second count.

Listeners could first tune into the new album via a streaming link from Pitchfork (the site has since removed that option) on March 18. The release was announced quietly, which, considering the nature of the new record, is fitting.

That isn't to say that "Comedown Machine" is a total drag or a waste of time. Far from it—while the record doesn't begin to approach the seductive draw of "Is This It" (the record whose success both defines and overshadows the band), "Comedown Machine" picks up nicely from where "Angles" left off, and while it may not convert fans from any other genres to the band's music, it serves up a sometimes strange, sometimes electric, and always aurally smoky set of solid indie rock tunes.

Opening track "Tap Out" is duplicitous, as a solo guitar squeal transitions into a groovy ode to a nebulous "something," as defined (or rather, not) by Julian Casablancas and co.

"Tap Out" sounds very lost, and this lack of clarity carries on into the other songs like "Slow Animals" and "Chances," where Casablancas's voice sounds frailer than it ever has. Whether he's stretching to the heights of his voice while singing "I'll play your game" or doing his best faux-parent scolding as he sings "They're always scared of where their daughter's been," the lyrics are narrative dead ends, even as the music shifts from funky bubbling (like on "Slow Animals") to harder rock riffs and drum hits.

The shining example of this frailty has to be the ending track, "Call It Fate, Call It Karma." The song evokes a sepia-toned paradise, all palm trees and sparkling pools, and Casablancas is a lover on his last legs, pleading with the object of his affection, "Can I waste all your time here on the sidewalk?" The song is as sexy as the Strokes have ever gotten, but it's a hazy, backlit sexiness that takes the desire of "Barely Legal" (off of "Is This It") and mixes it with the wistfulness of "Someday" (also from "Is This It") and the regret of "Life Is Simple in the Moonlight" (off of "Angles").

But this fragility is not the defining sound of the album. Lead single "All The Time" is an upbeat, guitar-driven warning/kiss off, as Casablancas chastises his subject for "flying too high." The opening lyric—"Those that try anything once"—is a wink to "First Impressions of Earth" tune "You Only Live Once" (sound familiar), which had originally been titled "I'll Try Anything Once"; that original version later appeared in Sofia Coppola's film Somewhere.

But "All The Time" sounds like a retread of "First Impressions"-era Strokes. Another tune, "Partners In Crime," also sounds like something from an earlier record, especially during the forgettable chorus.

It's on songs like "One Way Trigger," "50/50," and "Happy Ending" that the Strokes break new ground on their more driving tunes. "One Way Trigger" is an immediately danceable tune, but the upbeat musical line (especially that stuttering bass) belies the lyrics, which veer between a plaintive commitment—"You asked me to stay"—and a desire to GTFO—"But there's a million reasons to leave."

Meanwhile, "50/50" opens with a rollicking guitar line, which soon launches into the most overtly aggressive tune on the album—Casablancas sounds like he's growling when he hits the chorus. "Happy Ending" layers Casablancas's higher vocal against his "normal" lower vocal range, but for a song about "teenage angst," there's so much hope in the song, represented both in the staccato harmonies and the lyrics, especially in the chorus: "Baby, show me where to go."

As generally enjoyable as the rest of "Comedown Machine" is, the two standout tracks on the album have to be the middle two tunes: "Welcome to Japan" and "80's Comedown Machine."

"Welcome to Japan" is self-aware while avoiding the trap of narcissism. Casablancas's voice is sultry at times, confused at others; even stripping away the reference to Japan, he sounds like a younger Bill Murray in Lost in Translation, trying to absorb a sudden plunge into absurdity (what the hell is scuba dancing) and privileged status. "What kind of asshole drives a Lotus?" You tell me, Julian.

But it's the musical elements of "Welcome to Japan" that are absolutely amazing. There's a moment about halfway through the song, before the second time through the chorus, when an airy vocal layer emerges from the soundscape, and it sounds like a cry for help. When the bridge kicks in, Casablancas sounds tired, but the bass and guitar aren't letting up, so he has to keep running, running, running (so to speak) until the song, and thus the narrator, finally winds down.

"80's Comedown Machine" is enjoyable for an entirely different reason.

Casablancas still sounds tired. The tune is aurally sleepy, from its gently thrumming instrumentals to the rounded edge of Casablancas's voice, but this sleepiness takes on a defeated, or a near-defeated tone, during the chorus. This is the sound of coming down (no, not in that way), and though the instrumental interlude toward the end of the song has a twinkling, music box-esque sheen to it (heightened by the "real" background noises, like the sounds of clattering keys and miscellaneous metal), the sound fades out in a machine drone.

"You don't want to be without this," Casablancas croons in "Tap Out." And while the line doesn't sound like desperation in the context of the song, it underlines a central feeling about "Comedown Machine." 

The Strokes dropped this album with little fanfare. The album cover is simple; the songs stay away from overt declarations of love or desire, instead aiming for (generally) more subtle jabs of emotion. "Comedown Machine" sounds like the product of a cautious band, and while sometimes that caution reins in the potential of the songs, their careful focus has also produced some of the band's best songs to date.

Read more of NT's album reviews here.

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