The Strokes's New Album

The Strokes's New Album

Julian Casablancas has described The Strokes new material as sounding like Thin Lizzy meets A-Ha.

The New York singer is going it along with solo debut 'Phrazes For The Young', but has assured fans that the band's long-awaited fourth record is not far away.

He told XFM: "I'm looking forward to it. We worked on it for months, we have most of the songs written, more than half of them written. But it's just a question of getting all five dudes in the room. I'm ready to do it. We're supposed to have done it already but it got pushed back."

Quizzed on the nature of the record, Casablancas said it was too early to tell, but that he has his own ideas of how it should sound. "I have my own personal wish that it would sound like Thin Lizzy, but if they could peer into the future and kind of have eighties melodies. Like a super-tight late seventies rock band but with A-Ha moments, if that makes sense."

But he added that he has less control in the band than he might like. "The Strokes is a tough musical jury,” he explained, "so if something is going to survive it's got to pretty much please five incredibly picky dudes. That's the great thing about the band but on the other hand sometimes it can be stifling for certain parts."

"You might have a vision for a part but you can't express what you want to look like in its final state. And it's hard to even get to the final state because before it works, people are like 'I don’t like it', so it's hard to work an idea through when people are fighting you."