It’s been a bit over a year since The New Abnormal, the 2020 album from The Strokes that was the band’s first album since 2013. Now they’ve shared some additional new music, premiering a song called “Starting Again” in an ad for New York City Mayoral candidate Maya Wiley.
Julian Casablancas wrote the song with Gregg Alexander of the New Radicals and the pair said in a joint statement:
“In an era of voter suppression and mega donors dismantling democracy, it’s crucial to remember New York City is too important to risk handing the reins of America’s most diverse metropolis to the same kind of party machine that’s controlled NY’s governance for most of the 20th century… one of Brooklyn clubhouse politics, big real-estate money, and mutual back-scratching. It is time we elect Maya as the city’s first woman mayor to make things better for ALL of our futures.”
The Strokes have been Team Wiley for a few months now. In May, the band performed at a virtual fundraiser for the candidate, which also featured a conversation between Wiley and Casablancas. Then, last month, they performed an in-person concert at New York’s Irving Plaza in support of Wiley’s campaign.
Watch the ad above.