It isn’t that Julian Casablancas Phrazes For the Young is a bad album. Sure, the experiments are shit, and a lot of the songs are B listers, but here and there it really gets it together. And “Left And Right In the Dark” is absolutely both here and there.
A typically obscure lyric somewhere down Sunset Boulevard, Casablancas is chasing the past and chasing his tail and chasing some tail and the spiralling synth is knock out and the spiralling melody more than that.
But what makes it work, and Julian knows it, is the hook: “wake up, wake up” is so simple, so easy to sing, and yet it seems fraught with importance. It’s light and weighty at the same time.
Might I mention I once saw Julian, with a broken foot, leaning on a stool and stealing a concert lock, stock and barrel. From Jack White at Radio City.
Can’t wait to see him tonight!!