Angles

Angles is the fourth studio album by American indie rock band The Strokes, released on March 18, 2011 in Australia; March 21, 2011 in the UK; and March 22, 2011 worldwide. It is their first album since First Impressions of Earth (2006), their longest gap to date between studio albums.
After touring in support of First Impressions of Earth, The Strokes went on an extended hiatus in 2007 and then regrouped two years later to begin writing new material for a fourth album. The album took more than two years to materialize, with the band recording live demos of 18 songs before heading into Avatar Studios in New York with producer Joe Chiccarelli. Not long after recording began, however, the band became frustrated with Chicarelli's reserved production style. Only one song from these recording sessions, "Life Is Simple in the Moonlight", remained on the album's tracklisting. The Strokes recorded the rest of the album's material with engineer Gus Oberg at a converted farmhouse near guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr.'s Port Jervis home in Upstate New York.
Singer Julian Casablancas largely removed himself from the other four Strokes during the recording process, going so far as recording his vocals remotely at Electric Lady Studios and sending them to the band via email. Likewise, most communication between Casablancas and the rest of the band took place via email, and, according to guitarist Nick Valensi, most of the singer's ideas and suggestions were written "in really vague terms", leaving the others without much to go on. Casablancas' literal distance was a deliberate attempt at forcing the other members to take control of the band's creative process, a task which he had hitherto dominated. In an interview with Pitchfork, Casablancas stated: "When I'm there, people might wait for me to say something. I think it took me being a little mute to force the initiative". While Casablancas’ disengagement may have been by design, Valensi found the whole experience deeply dissatisfying. "I won’t do the next album if we make it like this. No way. It was awful- just awful. Working in a fractured way, not having a singer there. I’d show up certain days and do guitar takes by myself, just me and the engineer." Hammond's drug abuse and resulting rehab - stemming from his breakup with model Agyness Deyn - was another hurdle the band faced during the album's production, as he missed early recording sessions.