Turner and co truly lived up to that first line from their first album when they were teasing their return. It started when they announced festival dates in late January, which were gradually followed by European headline shows and North American shows, leading fans to speculate that an album announcement was heading our way.
Sure enough, on the 5th April, the news that fans had all been waiting for...the album was going to be released on May 11th, along with the reveal of some...erm...questionable...song titles (The World's First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip anyone?) Now, after one very long wait (it seems), the album is finally here!In many interviews, it has been clear that Alex was keen to drift away from the sound that people were comfortable with when listening to an Arctic Monkeys record, notably saying that he "was suspicious of where it was gonna go" and that his imagination was more prevalent when he sat by a piano. Gone was the gritty guitar sounds that you have heard previously on songs such as Arabella, I bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor etc, replaced by something that David Bowie would probably be proud of.
In fact, the best way to explain this album is this is the result of a mashup between the sound of David Bowie and The Last Shadow Puppets. Indeed, the latest Last Shadow Puppets album was inspired by Bowie (they added Moonage Daydream to the setlist in the middle of their 2016 tour). Now, it seems that the inspiration has carried on further with this album, with the music of the lead single, Four Out of Five, sounding very much like the music of Lazarus, Bowie's last single before he died. You could also argue that the sound of The Last Shadow Puppets has sneaked in as well, in the form of She Looks Fun, eerily sounding like a mash up of Calm Like You and In My Room.
However, for those who were expecting "old" Arctic Monkeys, there is some slight guitar sounds but not as much as you would expect. In fact, the sound is not the only unexpected thing with this album...you've also got the random song titles and the fact that The Ultracheese...is a ballad (to be honest, a song title like this would cause you to have no idea what the song will be like). On the other hand, you have still got something that, throughout the Arctic Monkeys' career, has not changed...Alex Turner's impeccable lyrics.
The most interesting thing about this album though, is the dystopian and sci-fi feel that we get throughout the album, including the album artwork, mentions of the film Blade Runner, the video for Four out of Five looking like Stanley Kubrick directed it, and songs called Science Fiction and Batphone. In addition, the album title, Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, seems to have had inspiration from the Tranquility Base, the place on the moon where Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon's surface. In fact, Alex commented on taking inspiration from science fiction, stating in an interview from Pitchfork: "Science Fiction creates...other worlds within which we can explore our own...I wanted to write something about that idea".
Overall, whilst the Arctic Monkeys have distanced themselves from their usual sound and created the most divisive album of their career (yep, even more divisive than AM), and yet it was a risk that paid off. Yes, the new sound takes a bit of getting used to, but once you have heard the album, you will want to book a room at the Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino. I hear the reviews are Four out of Five...
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