On the occasion of the release of “Reality Awaits”, which arrived after several postponements, the Strokes released “In Transit Part II”, a mini-documentary of about ten minutes that takes you behind the scenes of session of recording the new album. Directed by Johann Rashid, also author ofartwork of the album, the film follows the band to Costa Rica, where they worked on new material together with Rick Rubin.
The images were shot in the house on top of a mountain chosen as the headquarters for the recordings. The documentary alternates studio sessions and moments of everyday life, including swimming in the pool, football games and conversations about songs still in progress, offering an informal look at the creative process and the relationship between the Strokes and Rubin.
Among the most curious scenes is the one in which Julian Casablancas, kneeling in front of the producer, jokingly asks him: “Are you the person we are looking for?”. A moment that reflects the relaxed atmosphere of the sessions, which Rubin had already spoken about in 2022 during Joe Rogan's podcast. “We rented a house on top of a mountain and set everything up outside so when they played it was like they were doing a concert for the ocean from the top of a mountain,” the producer said, describing a particularly intense experience for the band.
“In Transit Part II” now shows that setting from the inside, avoiding the rhetoric of creative retreat and instead favoring the daily story of the making of the record. The title explicitly recalls “In Transit”, the mini-documentary made in 2001 at the time of “Is This It”, when the Strokes had just exploded on the international scene and had quickly been invested with the role of the new saviors of rock'n'roll. Over twenty years later, the band recovers that formula to document a very different moment in their history.
“Reality Awaits” was preceded by the singles “Falling Out Of Love” and “Going Shopping”.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
