Palette sans crying3/10/2023 It’s a striking image of vulnerability cast from a frontman who has developed his image from indie sleaze icon to odd pop auteur, and one that sheds light on Turner’s overall melancholic theme: this music thing ain’t quite what it used to be. Taking on the form of yet another balladeer, Turner outlines a fictional-but-obviously-not-fictional story of a musician’s successful heyday, referencing “nationwide festivities,” “The Ballad of What Could’ve Been,” and “some just hysterical scenes.” But the chorus finds Turner unable to capture that radiant success in the current moment: “I had big ideas/ the band were so excited/ the kind you’d rather not share over the phone/ But now the orchestra’s got us all surrounded/ and I cannot for the life of me remember how they go.” Turner fully breaks the fourth wall on “Sculptures of Anything Goes,” asking first, “Is that vague sense of longing kinda trying to cause a scene?” - perhaps a reference to the band’s iconic yearning hits like “505” and “Do I Wanna Know?” - then shifting gears to, “Guess I’m talking to you now/ Puncturing your bubble of relatability with your horrible new sound/ Baby those mixed messages ain’t what they used to be when you said ‘em out loud.” It’s a fascinating acknowledgment of the way Arctic Monkeys have alienated fans by “puncturing” a “bubble of relatability,” while also poking fun at Turner’s own contradictory catalog that has always characterized the band’s music. Turner often embodies different characters that are singing to a myriad of audiences the theatricality of The Car is so apparent, with so many “I’s, you’s, and we’s,” that at times, it’s impossible to tell who, or what, he’s really talking about. No, instead, Turner is more fascinated in the “What’s-It-Called Cafe” and claims that “it ain’t a holiday until you go to fetch something from the car.”īut baked into his absurd lyricism and existential musings are, in fact, references to “the band,” and intriguing commentary on his own career. Throughout the album, Turner isn’t just contemplative he sounds tired. He rarely pushes his crooning toward a place with tension or desperation, save for the powerful climax of “Body Paint.” He’s observant while being slightly resigned, his fascination with the mundane and unremarkable somehow becoming the opposite - title track “The Car” is all about being on vacation, but there are no images of a seaside rendezvous or luxurious hotels. Though there are some intriguing highlights, The Car isn’t anywhere near the evocative heights that Arctic Monkeys have reached throughout their now-storied career - and perhaps that’s the point. Instead, The Car is a bit of a sigh a suspended act of melancholy, occasionally flat and occasionally brilliant, that finds the band working with a soft, moody palette that hardly ever threatens to evolve. Orchestral flourishes, though not overwhelmingly frequent, give many of The Car’s songs a classic feel, while Turner’s vocal persona evokes a midlife crisis David Bowie.īut the new Arctic Monkeys album hardly comes with a “bang” - The Car is not a return to form that many fans would have hoped for, nor is it the abrupt left turn that Tranquility Base boasted. The album is sonically aligned with the slow-burning psych pop of Tranquility Base, the band farther away than ever from the tense post-punk or bluesy garage rock that characterized much of their output pre-2018. There were lyrics about gentrifying a space colony, a song called “The Ultracheese,” unreliable narrators, and a rambling energy that painted the band’s nostalgic psychedelia and lounge pop in a fascinating light.Īfter four years, Arctic Monkeys return again with their seventh studio album, The Car (arriving this Friday, October 21st). Arctic Monkeys have been adamant about crafting their catalog on their own terms - how many bands would follow up one of their most accessible and commercially successful LPs (2013’s AM) with a bizarre, wonky concept album about a luxury resort on the moon? 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino was undoubtedly a turning point for the Sheffield quartet, with frontman Alex Turner taking more stylistic liberties than ever before on an Arctic Monkeys album and digging his heels in a more open-ended, collage-like structure.
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