Arctic Monkeys - AM Review
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rating: 4.5
"Are there some aces up your sleeve?" is a curious sentence to hear from a group whose only obvious link between their five-strong discography is the daft name that appears on the sleeves. The only one playing tricks here is Arctic Monkeys, and they've pulled more than just an ace out of those sleeves this time they've brought desert dune "wood groove" with lashings of Josh Homme and the spice of a Dr. Dre beat wrapped up in Sabbathy cellophane and T-Rex packaging. An album with inspirations and influences oozing from its very grooves, 'AM' (which could've been called 'Tambourines and Falsettos') should be a mess of cheap pastiche and imitation of the inimitable. And yet... Even a million miles from home, in absence from the blue collar drudge and uninviting Sheffield nightlife that fuelled 'Whatever People Say I Am...'s savvy wit, Turner sounds as in touch as ever. As a maverick of the metaphor and an astonishingly aware 27-year-old, the one factor he's retained Yorkshire accent or no throughout his relatively short, yet profoundly varied career, is his rapport with the listener. Remarkably, he's still grounded enough to notice the intricacies of things like relationships that everyone can relate to, something a surprising amount of airheaded rockstars fall short in achieving these days. Topically focused, like 2011's 'Suck It and See', on the mystery of the woman, through 'AM' Turner recites his quietly observant poetry with a polarised passion; every story could be from a different mouth were it not so obviously him. Furthermore it seems that, like a biscuit left out of the tin too long; Alex's voice gets softer and softer every time we steal a bite the words seem to float out of his mouth with such natural wistfulness that you can barely hear the beat of the syllables. And like his voice, the token of any Arctic Monkeys album seems to have become the soft centre of their records 'Cornerstone', 'Only Ones Who Know', even 'Mardy Bum' to a certain extent and 'No. 1 Party Anthem' proves to be a fitting continuation of the trend; painting an "Escher painting" spin on the classic 'locking eyes across the room' story that they touched on (albeit more sarcastically) in 'You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights But You Were Staring Straight At Me': "Sipping a drink and laughing at imaginary jokes... her eyes invite you to approach". Though lyrically there is an impending sense of romantic uncertainty running straight from the off, the pulse-pounding angst in opening stomper 'Do I Wanna Know?' sounds worlds apart from the cautious sparkle of I Wanna Be Yours lifted from a John Cooper Clarke poem.