Artic Monkeys are back with new album, The Car

By: Natalia Pfeiffer

Arctic Monkeys are back! The band that shaped a large amount of music based pop culture around 2013 - 2014 have released a new album entitled The Car. Still sticking to their signature funk, indie rock Arctic Monkeys have once again found themselves shifting tones ever so slightly. 

From the leap between their most commercially successful release 2013’s AM to their follow up five years later in Tranquility Based Hotel & Casino, the band has established that they are more passionate about updating their catalog than trying to reimagine their highest grossing concept in attempts to appease large groups of listeners. 

Now with their latest installment Arctic Monkeys have embraced a tone reminiscent of cinematic soundscapes, like composer John Brion’s scoring work on Lady Bird (2017) as one example. 

Opening their brand new album of pondering thoughts is There’d Better Be A Mirrorball, the leading single of the collective album. The track introduces itself with an instrumental introduction that lasts for about the first minute of the song.

 It is common for tracks with instrumental starts of that length to lose replay value overtime as a lot of listeners are so used to easily accessible lyric and artist personality to latch on to from the first few seconds of a song. But in the case of Arctic Monkeys opening track the progression of each instrument remains interesting and engaging.

 I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am stuns listeners from the six second mark with a layered crescendoing vocal that establishes the funk that will be funneled through the whole song. Sculptures of Anything Goes is a sultry tone track that well suits lead vocalist Alex Turner's defining voice. 

Closing the album with Perfect Sense, the shortest song on the album, as well as one of Turner’s self declared favorites as confirmed in a press interview cohensiding with the project's release. This final glimpse into the atmosphere that is The Car says goodnight to fans, as well as contextualizes Turner’s acceptance of the bands growth over the past decade and that if evolving and growing is “what it takes to say goodnight, then that’s what it takes”.  

Overall, The Car succeeds in productional value and atmosphere while remaining mysterious in context. The band has surely mastered the art of saying everything they need to say in as little words and contextual clues as plausible in the process of their past few records. 

Turner continues to stun with his undeniably personable vocals and Jaime Cook, Nick O’Malley, and Matt Helders still manage to capture the essence of crisp textures and colors in their instrumental work  that sonically intrigues listeners into coming back again and again.