Singer Julian Casablancas of The Strokes performs during a concert for the fuse network in New York, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2006. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Jeff Christensen

TORONTO - The Strokes singer Julian Casablancas never really wanted a solo career.

But the New York band took a hiatus following 2006's commercially and critically disappointing "First Impressions of Earth" that stretched on and on with no end in sight. Meanwhile, every other member of the band embarked upon side projects that complicated the Strokes' already difficult schedule.

Finally, Casablancas said he just couldn't wait any longer.

"They forced my hand a little bit," he told The Canadian Press in a recent telephone interview from New York.

"I was fine and happy with the Strokes. ... Once I started working alone, though, it was kind of liberating. I know what I like and I can just do it. And there's no obstacle, you know? There's no convincing, no explaining, you just do what you trust."

The result of Casablancas's solo sojourn is "Phrazes of the Young," an eight-song blast that wanders from Strokes-esque rock 'n' roll to prog, country, glam and even goofy dance-pop (infectious first single "11th Dimension").

"Out of the Blue" opens the disc with tingling, spacey effects before launching into a chugging, guitar-driven anthem that could have been plucked off the Strokes' debut "Is This It."

"Left & Right in the Dark" continues in that vein - chiming guitars interweave and bounce around, only coalescing in the chorus, while a synth melody threads throughout.

The latter half of the disc finds Casablancas stretching his legs.

"Ludlow Street" is a country dirge with electro underpinnings, while "Glass," a slow-burning electro ballad, is one of the few songs places here that Casablancas matches his bleak lyrics with a melancholic musical arrangement.

If it wasn't obvious from the album's words, "Phrazes for the Young" originated from a difficult period in Casablancas's life.

He began writing it around 18 months ago. Not long before, he had acknowledged a drinking problem that began in his teens and gave up alcohol.

What prompted the decision?

"Well, No. 1, it was affecting music and I always promised myself if it was affecting music, I would stop," he said.

"It was a pretty serious problem, I think. I mean, I was in physical pain if I wasn't drinking. I think that qualifies as a problem."

He acknowledges his troubles at various points on the record. On "Ludlow Street" - the first song he wrote for the album - he sings: "Everything seems to go wrong when I start drinking."

By the time he wrote those words, Casablancas was sober, but still suffering through what he calls an extended hangover.

"I still felt that tinge of like, let's just stay in, shut the curtains, I don't want to see the outside world," he said.

Now? Casablancas, whose wife is expecting their first child, "feels normal again."

"A month ago, literally, I was finally like: 'I feel fine,"' he said. "I just go out, I don't need to drink, it's fine."

The nomadic lifestyle hinted at in the above lyric appears to be a thing of the past, too. He's touring sparingly in support of his new disc, with a show in Vancouver on Monday one of only a few North American dates he has scheduled.

Of course, he spent much of the decade on the road.

"Is This It," was released in 2001 to a clamorous critical reception, one that hasn't quieted much in the years since (in fact, British music mag NME named "Is This It" the album of the decade earlier this week).

The record blended the influence of beloved New York proto-punk bands such as Television and the Velvet Underground with perfectly honed hooks, Casablancas's unaffected croon and the band's trend-setting style (skinny jeans, Chuck Taylor All-Stars and an overall meticulously arranged shagginess).

In 2003, they followed up with "Room on Fire," a memorable if less cohesive collection that registered with fans despite failing to live up to the sky-high expectations set by the band's debut.

After 2006's disappointing "First Impressions of Earth," the band went on sabbatical.

While members of the band have talked about gathering to record a fourth record recently, Casablancas sounds unsure about when it will actually happen.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know," he says. "We'll still play shows and stuff, and make records. Don't worry. Maybe you're not worried."

Meantime, fans have his new disc, which he says is "like a Strokes record without the Strokes" - though he says few reviewers have picked up on it.

"I've heard that everyone's side projects sound like the Strokes except mine, which I think is ironic since I wrote everything in the Strokes," he said.

He appears bewildered by the band's ongoing break, and the Strokes never seem to be far from Casablancas's mind.

For all his detached cool, Casablancas doesn't seem entirely comfortable with the spotlight. He's friendly and accommodating during the interview, but also reticent.

"Interviews are weird, because I'm bad at talking about myself," he says by way of apologizing for finding it difficult to answer a question. "I'm a terrible self promoter."

And yet, Casablancas says he's enjoying the solo career he never wanted. Particularly because it's given him a sense of total control over the music that he hasn't had since the early days of the Strokes.

"That's how the Strokes used to be," he said. "(Now) I always want everyone to like everything. ... Everyone would have to sign off on it. That was the good thing about the Strokes' process. But no, in the early days I did a lot more, for the future, I'm trying to back off so we can all contribute and be equal.