Phrazes for the Young is the debut solo album by American singer-songwriter Julian Casablancas. It was released through his own Cult Records label, via RCA and Rough Trade Records, on November 2, 2009, in the United Kingdom and the following day in the United States.[7]
Critical reception was mostly positive, although Casablancas has since expressed regret about the project, stating, "I had all these different ideas, [but] I thought 'if I go too weird, people won't take it seriously,' so I did the safest ideas [...] And then... maybe it became this 'oh, this is what he does when he's on his own' vs. The Strokes, and that was annoying, frustrating."[15]
Release
The album was previewed in its entirety on August 31, 2009, at the Duo Music Exchange in Tokyo, Japan.[16] To celebrate the release, Casablancas played a special series of shows every Friday night in November in Los Angeles.[17] The first track released from the album, "11th Dimension", had its first airing on the Radio 1Zane Lowe Show on September 17, and was marked as Zane Lowe's Hottest Record. The single was released on October 2, 2009, in the US.[18]
A deluxe box set including B-sides and home recordings was made available after the album's release. It comes with a vinyl recording of the album and is housed within an antique style box.
Reception
Phrazes for the Young received mostly positive reviews upon release. NME awarded the album four stars out of five calling it "a little short, but oh so sweet."[19]Pitchfork accused Casablancas of making "the classic rookie solo mistake of stuffing his songs with everything in the studio," while praising the "endearing silliness" of '11th Dimension' and the "gorgeous electro ballad" 'Glass.' They were less effusive of other aspects of the record comparing it to a "plexiglass-covered museum piece." They continued: "at this rate, this one-time wunderkind risks becoming little more than an emblem of the past if he can't figure out how to harness the present once again."[20]Alexis Petridis writing in The Guardian was broadly positive about the record saying that when Casablancas "concentrates on making pop music...Phrazes for the Young is a blast."[21]The Quietus called it "more of a vanity than a solo project."[22] In the years following its release, "Phrazes for the Young" was viewed more positively and is now viewed as something of a cult record.
