CRX - New Skin

CRX
New Skin
2016
Spotify

The name CRX may sound new to you, but the music will sound very familiar. Nick Valensi was the lead guitarist for The Strokes for almost a decade and crafted a sound with them that not only defined The Strokes, but a whole genre of music that sprang up around the early 2000s. It was dirtier than the squeaky clean pop of the late nineties and embraced punk as it's main influence rather than anything else. Some of those tendencies make their way on this new debut New Skin landing the album somewhere near down tempo alt rock. This description may not peak your interest right away and for good reason, there really is not much going on at all on this record. It feels incredibly dated from the very start, somehow managing to be ancient in it's production and delivery. The guitar distortion is blown up to an almost asinine level. Valensi's singing is never able to keep up and each piece of the band feels disjointed from the other. The same can be said for the album as a whole. You would expect something tight, precise and quick for that matter but CRX dwell on their songs for far to long to make these pop ditties to really shine. On "Walls" we get a Fall Out Boy impression, not intentionally, that is simply laughable with how bad it is.

The Strokes went all in with their throwback style and sensibility, which was a real shake up and interesting. However this sits somewhere halfway in and halfway out, like the band themselves are bored of what they are doing, yet they keep doing it. There are many times where the guitar flashes some moments of brilliance, but they are drowned out by everything else going on. In previous interviews Valensi has said that CRX was a vehicle to get him back out on tour, and you can hear how live these songs might actually be some fun, but you have to get through them on the album first. Even the raucous solos like on "On Edge" just seem not very fun even though technically they are quite good. From someone this seasoned you just expect a great deal more and New Skin falls flat on almost all level. Skip.

4.4 out of 10