*(Domino)*
With its nods to 90s G-funk and rocker Josh Homme, Arctic Monkeys' fifth album is their best in years
When Arctic Monkeys burst into the spotlight in 2006, breaking sales records, prompting bandwagon-jumping prospective Labour party leaders to make themselves sound heroically foolish and being hailed for their quintessential Britishness, you could have got long odds on the key figure in the second phase of their career being Californian stoner-rock pioneer Josh Homme. And yet it was under the production aegis of the Queens of the Stone Age frontman that they performed a stylistic handbrake turn with 2009's Humbug, ditching the indie influences of their first two albums for a markedly heavier, darker sound. It also marked the point where Alex Turner's lyrical inspirations shifted away from sharply chronicled vignettes of small-town England ("songs about fucking taxi ranks," as he once put it) to more elliptical subject matter. And, in innuendo-tastic album opener My Propeller, his overwhelming desire to have someone wank him off.
The follow-up, 2011's occasionally misfiring Suck It and See, embraced poppier hooks, but AM finds AM revisiting Humbug's darker hues. And although Homme's input this time is restricted to two vocal cameos, on One for the Road and Knee Socks, his influence is evident throughout much of the first half of the record: last year's stop-start, Tracy Island-referencing single R U Mine? pummels away remorselessly; the bridge of Arabella keeps threatening to break into Black Sabbath's War Pigs. Opener Do I Wanna Know?, meanwhile, is built on guitarist Jamie Cook's slow, monolithic riff, Turner's words of unrequited lust ("I'm sorry to interrupt, I'm just constantly on the cusp of trying to kiss you/I don't know if you feel the same as I do") offset by handclaps and QOTSA-style falsetto backing vocals.
But the return to the heavy-rock dynamics of Humbug is only half the story of AM. There's another notable influence at play here that is even further removed from their early material. Given that indie is a genre that doesn't always embrace musical miscegenation (witness Noel Gallagher's ill-thought-out comments about the idea of Jay-Z headlining Glastonbury in 2008), Turner no doubt caused consternation among the more conservative elements of his fanbase earlier this summer when he told NME that they had attempted to make an album that sounded "less like four lads playing in a room this time" and citing Dr Dre as a reference point.
Recent single Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?, an infatuated-sounding Turner's late-night booty call, is their most obvious take on 90s G-funk (indeed, US electronica producer Curtis Jones has spliced it together seamlessly with Dre and Eminem's What's the Difference on Soundcloud). But it's not the only time they swing instead of scuffle: Snap Out of It owes much to Motown and the effervescent I Want It All locates common ground between Queens of the Stone Age, 70s glam rock and Pharrell Williams's funk-rock side-project N*E*R*D.
Throughout, Turner proves he has not lost his knack for an insightful lyric, "A helter-skelter around her little finger and I ride it endlessly" on Arabella being a case in point. And yet the most poignant words on AM aren't his. Album closer I Wanna Be Yours is a mid-80s poem by John Cooper Clarke slightly tweaked, which benefits from its simple, uncluttered arrangement and Turner's heartfelt delivery. "I wanna be your Ford Cortina/ And I will never rust," he sings and the effect is mesmerising.
The fact that the most moving moment is, in effect, a cover version is telling. I Wanna Be Yours aside, there's nothing here that is as immediately gratifying as their earliest work. But while AM isn't the decade-defining classic some are proclaiming, it is never less than fascinating. There is a depth – a willingness to experiment, a refusal to be pigeonholed – that rewards repeated listens and makes this their most coherent, most satisfying album since their debut. Where they go next is anybody's guess.
Rating: 4/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.
With its nods to 90s G-funk and rocker Josh Homme, Arctic Monkeys' fifth album is their best in years
When Arctic Monkeys burst into the spotlight in 2006, breaking sales records, prompting bandwagon-jumping prospective Labour party leaders to make themselves sound heroically foolish and being hailed for their quintessential Britishness, you could have got long odds on the key figure in the second phase of their career being Californian stoner-rock pioneer Josh Homme. And yet it was under the production aegis of the Queens of the Stone Age frontman that they performed a stylistic handbrake turn with 2009's Humbug, ditching the indie influences of their first two albums for a markedly heavier, darker sound. It also marked the point where Alex Turner's lyrical inspirations shifted away from sharply chronicled vignettes of small-town England ("songs about fucking taxi ranks," as he once put it) to more elliptical subject matter. And, in innuendo-tastic album opener My Propeller, his overwhelming desire to have someone wank him off.
The follow-up, 2011's occasionally misfiring Suck It and See, embraced poppier hooks, but AM finds AM revisiting Humbug's darker hues. And although Homme's input this time is restricted to two vocal cameos, on One for the Road and Knee Socks, his influence is evident throughout much of the first half of the record: last year's stop-start, Tracy Island-referencing single R U Mine? pummels away remorselessly; the bridge of Arabella keeps threatening to break into Black Sabbath's War Pigs. Opener Do I Wanna Know?, meanwhile, is built on guitarist Jamie Cook's slow, monolithic riff, Turner's words of unrequited lust ("I'm sorry to interrupt, I'm just constantly on the cusp of trying to kiss you/I don't know if you feel the same as I do") offset by handclaps and QOTSA-style falsetto backing vocals.
But the return to the heavy-rock dynamics of Humbug is only half the story of AM. There's another notable influence at play here that is even further removed from their early material. Given that indie is a genre that doesn't always embrace musical miscegenation (witness Noel Gallagher's ill-thought-out comments about the idea of Jay-Z headlining Glastonbury in 2008), Turner no doubt caused consternation among the more conservative elements of his fanbase earlier this summer when he told NME that they had attempted to make an album that sounded "less like four lads playing in a room this time" and citing Dr Dre as a reference point.
Recent single Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?, an infatuated-sounding Turner's late-night booty call, is their most obvious take on 90s G-funk (indeed, US electronica producer Curtis Jones has spliced it together seamlessly with Dre and Eminem's What's the Difference on Soundcloud). But it's not the only time they swing instead of scuffle: Snap Out of It owes much to Motown and the effervescent I Want It All locates common ground between Queens of the Stone Age, 70s glam rock and Pharrell Williams's funk-rock side-project N*E*R*D.
Throughout, Turner proves he has not lost his knack for an insightful lyric, "A helter-skelter around her little finger and I ride it endlessly" on Arabella being a case in point. And yet the most poignant words on AM aren't his. Album closer I Wanna Be Yours is a mid-80s poem by John Cooper Clarke slightly tweaked, which benefits from its simple, uncluttered arrangement and Turner's heartfelt delivery. "I wanna be your Ford Cortina/ And I will never rust," he sings and the effect is mesmerising.
The fact that the most moving moment is, in effect, a cover version is telling. I Wanna Be Yours aside, there's nothing here that is as immediately gratifying as their earliest work. But while AM isn't the decade-defining classic some are proclaiming, it is never less than fascinating. There is a depth – a willingness to experiment, a refusal to be pigeonholed – that rewards repeated listens and makes this their most coherent, most satisfying album since their debut. Where they go next is anybody's guess.
Rating: 4/5 Reported by guardian.co.uk 2 days ago.