(April 1, 2011) — For some, five years ago seems like yesterday, but for Strokes fans, the past five years have been an eternity. Back from a seemingly endless hiatus and prolonged recording process, the highly anticipated release of The Strokes’ fourth studio album, Angles , has kept fans, bloggers and music magazines on the tip of their toes and hanging onto every update from the New York City five-piece. A decade after their critically praised debut, The Strokes decided to put their multiple side projects on the back burner and return to their day job: producing avant-garde rock. With many comebacks, bands force the question of whether they still have an active fan base. With The Strokes, it has been the fans questioning whether singer Julian Casablancas, guitarists Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi, bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Moretti have stayed loyal to them. But by the looks of it, neither end has anything to worry about with Angles . A year belated from its expected release, Hammond’s drug addition is under control and tensions within the band have ceased, leaving them booked with summer festivals (hello, Coachella) and a world-wide tour waiting to test the Ticketmaster bandwidth as the band picks up a second wave of indie-rock enthusiasts. Aptly titled Angles , the ten songs are a collection of built-up ideas from each member. Angles’ flow takes new shapes rooted in the raw chop from Is This It?, the beginning-to-end satisfaction of Room On Fire and the darkish sound of First Impressions… in a journey of building rhythm, layers of Casablanca’s vocals, and an adventure with production. Originally set to be produced by Joe Chiccarelli (U2, Beck, The Shins), early troubles and bad timing put the Strokes in Hammond’s in-home recording studio where they were still able to engineer part reggae, part jazz and part disco beats that fade into the groove of Hammond’s and Valensi’s intertwined guitars. Right off the bat, the first track, “Macchu Picchu,” makes a buzzing entrance, almost off a spaceship and onto a 15-second platform of Latin synth that seems so foreign to the clean guitar approach of their past openers. Casablancas chimes in, “I’m putting your patience to the test / I’m putting your body on the line, for less,” as he claims to “waltz on the grey.” The fast tempos and hooks consistent throughout the short but sweet 34 minutes are carefree (and on constant repeat for me), requiring far less patience as compared to the bulky 50-some minutes of their last release of half hits, half misses. When the Strokes produce singles like “Under Cover of Darkness” that have a spring in their step accompanying whining riffs, and rhyming sing-songy lyrics, it’s hard to call them “garage rock” anymore. Interludes in “Games” offer a snapping ’80s drum with a beachy flow. A standout on the LP, the beautifully crafted closer “Life Is Simple In The Moonlight” tapers a progression (unarguably similar to Radiohead’s “Wierd Fishes”) into a suave jazz rhythm fit to be elevator music in Buckingham Palace. The Strokes have created an elegant brand of their own music with Angles , painting their covers bright and giving Julian Casablanca’s doe eyes something to light up to.