Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas speaks out about his solo disc

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More than three years have passed since New York band the Strokes released their third album, “First Impressions of Earth.” Since then, the question has loomed: When, if ever, will they return?

The group has given various answers, indicating they had begun recording a fourth disc in January, then later posting a message in July that they would spend the summer working toward an early 2010 release. Numerous delays have emerged lately, however, as most members of the quintet have devoted time to side projects.

Guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. embarked on a solo career in 2006 with “Yours to Keep” and has since released another album, 2008’s “¿Como Te Llama?” Drummer Fabrizio Moretti, meanwhile, teamed with Brazilian singer/guitarist Rodrigo Amarante to form Lucky Joy, which put out its self-titled debut in late 2008.

Even the Strokes’ bassist, Nikolai Fraiture, formed his own group, the cleverly titled Nickel Eye, which issued its first work, “The Time of the Assassins,” in January.

So it makes some sense that, after lending his modern crooner vocals to collaborations with various other artists — Santigold, Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, even Andy Samberg’s comedy troupe the Lonely Island — Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas would concoct his own solo record, “Phrazes for the Young,” which arrived last week.

“I never wanted to do it,” Casablancas said during a phone interview Thursday, “but I feel like I was kind of forced a little, to be quite honest. The band wanted to go do their own thing, and that’s cool — I respect that they need to go do that. But I didn’t want to sit around.”

To promote the release, which Casablancas describes as “something between the Wailers and Thom Yorke,” the singer has undertaken a Friday-night residency this month at the rarely used Downtown Palace Theatre in Los Angeles.

As a precursor to the four-night stint, Casablancas did a club gig Nov. 2 as a surprise opener for Happy Hollows, which he says gave him the chance to “work out the kinks.”

So far, his only other planned performances comprise a string of dates along the West Coast, with stops in San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver, followed by a short trek through the U.K. and Western Europe, wrapping in mid-December.

“Hopefully people (will) see something that they don’t usually see, and that excites and inspires, and hopefully gets the word going around so that we can do this crazy show in other places, too,” Casablancas says.

“Phrazes for the Young,” sporting only eight tracks (11 if you splurge for the deluxe edition), references in its title Oscar Wilde’s “Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young,” a short list of witty advice tidbits first published in 1894. Casablancas says he happened upon the list in a volume of Wilde’s works several years ago, and decided to incorporate the concept into his work. “I did a similar thing with ‘First Impressions,’ where I had these little hidden sentences in the artwork for each song,” he explains. “So it’s kind of an evolution of that.”

Inside his solo disc’s booklet, Casablancas included his own original phrases above each song title. “There’s so much knowledge and wisdom you lose from generation to generation,” he notes, that “those were just some of those things that I just wish someone had told me when I was 16, (things) that took me so much time to learn.”

Casablancas is feeling mostly optimistic about the L.A. residency. “(My band is) really talented ... and the songs are sounding pretty crazy,” he says.

Still, he remains modest about his first full-on non-Strokes undertaking. “You’re struggling because you know it’s like a new thing that people don’t know what to expect, but at the same time you want to create this illusion that you’re coming in highly ranked.”

Whatever the outcome, fans need not worry about the Strokes disappearing permanently. “Whether it takes off or not, I’ll still do Strokes stuff,” Casablancas says. “I think (recording) is going to start in January, but I’m free for them whenever.”

The first two singles off Phrazes for the Young, “11th Dimension” and “River of Brake Lights,” are available for a free listen on Casablancas’ MySpace page. The album in its entirety costs $4.99 ($9.99 for the deluxe package) on iTunes and Amazon; a “luxury edition box set” can be purchased at www.ainr.com.