REVIEW: The Car by Arctic Monkeys - There Indeed Is A Mirrorball

Think Tranquility Base part 2, but with a far more personal touch traversing across all that space its predecessor created…

Okay, I guess we gotta call out the elephant in the room before we begin. We’ve loved the Sheffield boys from the moment the earworm of “Do I Wanna Know?” slithered into our ears in 2013, eventually exploring and embracing all their different eras. But when Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino came out, literally almost 10 listens front to back still didn’t get me in love with it.

And we felt bad almost, like we just weren’t getting the point of it. And we were honestly kinda sad about it, because it felt like a core band of ours changed a little too much. But 4 years down, and another album in - we’re finally on board with the Monkeys’ direction.

The Car is exactly as indulgent as its predecessor, not just dipping its toes but fully submerging in their bizarre world - one where confabulatory phrases like “master of deception and subterfuge”, “retina scan” and “jet skis on a moat” are the norm. But on this one, it doesn’t feel anymore like frontman Alex Turner is singing tunes of a realm beyond us. Every track spews some of the weirdest stuff, but still very aptly describes the everyday problems of unrequited love, boredom and emptiness, just with some added flair and tongue-in-cheek. While the spaced out, sparse sound remains, the substance feels a lot closer and just so much more relatable.

Wiping the dust off 70s Floyd-esque riffs, the boys goofily but effortlessly paint a picture through wacky metaphors, of what it feels like to be somewhere you don’t fit quite right in. The track may feel like a confusing mess at first, but when it clicks, it all clicks.

Couple this with some superbly gripping and unique instrumentals throughout, and you’ve honestly got yourself a lowkey banger of a record. Jamie Cook’s steadily smouldering AM-esque guitarwork makes a very welcome return, particularly on tracks like the brooding “Sculptures of Anything Goes”, complete with a flawless rhythm section from Nick O’Malley and Matt Helders. Retaining this core, the band freely adds elements to each track on the album to make them distinctly unique yet perfectly cohesive, with choice synths and keys.

On some points on the record, the quartet stretch their sound even further, with some gorgeous string sections (can you imagine if someone told you in 2010 that they’d have string sections in their songs one day? wild). You’d think they’d be over the top, but they fit right in - the more we listened to the album, the more the strings made “Perfect Sense” (hah).

“Perfect Sense”, the album closer, was honestly the track for us that tied the album all together. For some reason, the pulsing strings and the descending runs felt like the scene in Casino Royale where James Bond’s love Vespa just sank into the water, as he helplessly watched on. We dk why so highly specific, but I guess it just portrays THAT much of a grandiose goodbye. Got our hair standing.

Looking back on the past week or so, we didn’t expect to appreciate the record as much as we do today. It probably won’t be a regular rotation for us, but it’s nice to know that we could go back to the latest Arctic Monkeys well knowing we’re gonna properly sink our teeth into the listen.

And we’d just like to end with this - it feels like Alex and co. know exactly how we feel about where the band is now. Their raucous days are over, and the suits and loafers are on, hair slicked back. But somehow, through the musky-cologne-esque smoke that shrouds them now, we can’t help but feel like they’re reaching out directly to us with this album. On opening track “There’d Better Be A Mirrorball”, Alex stops just short of directly acknowledging us with the lyrics, over the beautiful piano work and that single oscillating synth.

“Don't get emotional, that ain't like you
Yesterday's still leaking through the roof
That's nothing new
I know I promised this is what I wouldn't do
Somehow giving it the old romantic fool
Seems to better suit the mood

So if you wanna walk me to the car
You oughta know I'll have a heavy heart
So can we please be absolutely sure
That there's a mirrorball?”

Maybe he’s saying that yesterday’s Arctic Monkeys are still around if you really want it, but it’s time to move on to where the Mirrorball’s at - if you’re getting in the car with him, that is.

The Car is out now.