The Strokes have sent fans into a frenzy after dropping a short album teaser featuring a 1980s Nissan 300ZX.
The clip, shared on The Strokes’ social media channels on Tuesday (06.04.26), flashes the line “In the flesh, it’s even sexier” before guitar chords kick in.
It then reveals the title: “Reality Awaits. The new album by The Strokes. Out this summer.”
The new record will mark the New York indie rockers’ first since 2020’s The New Abnormal.
Julian Casablancas and co are gearing up for a series of festivals, including this month’s Coachella, and Outside Lands, Just Like Heaven, and Japan’s Summer Sonic.
Hints of new music have been circulating for years.
Back in 2023, guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. confirmed in an interview with NME that the group had been recording with producer Rick Rubin in Costa Rica, a collaboration first mentioned by the studio wizard during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience in 2022.
He said: “I think he was just so excited about where we recorded.
“But I don’t know what to say about it – I don’t have any information on it. It’s not like it’s happening and I’m hiding something. We went and did a bunch of recording. It could come out a year or two years from now – it’s an unknown amount of time when it’ll be finished but, yes, we are working on another record.”
Albert said the band had completed “a bunch of recording” but admitted he had no idea when the project would be finished, stressing that it could take “a year or two years” before anything surfaced.
Julian later addressed the speculation on Instagram, acknowledging that the band were indeed working together again but warning fans that they were still far from releasing new material.
The group kept quiet about the album’s progress, leaving fans to piece together clues from scattered comments and studio sightings.