Arctic Monkeys

I just wanted to be one of The Strokes, now look at the mess you made me make, Hitchhiking with a monogrammed suitcase miles away from any half useful imaginary highway.

(Arctic Monkeys, 'Star Treatment')

In 2002 a group of lads from High Green, Sheffield, set up a band. Inspired by The Strokes, an NY 'IT' of cool, they bought some guitars and decided to give it a go. A year later, they were the coolest gang in town. Playing The Grapes in Sheffield, eschewing London, these parochial heroes soon became worldwide phenomenons. With their zeitgeist lyrics and red bull kineticism, the group were always going to go overground; however, their fans ensured it happened sooner than expected.

At those early gigs free CD’s were given to the crowd, which were then burned and uploaded. Soon a wild fire ensued, message boards lit up with glowing epithets, The Big Smoke caught on. Broadband sponsored word-of-mouth precipitated the Monkeys rise to the top; a top that would see them secure the fastest ever debut selling album by a British band. That album title (Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not) is distinctly British too, coming as it does from Alan Sillitoe’s ‘kitchen sink’ drama Saturday Night and Sunday Morning. The Monkeys debut is a 21^st century re-working of the novel, documenting the scrapes and japes of working-class life.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

From there the Artcic's went on to record Favourite Worst Nightmare. An album sonically similar to their debut, with rolling drums and propelling guitars, yet lyrically more obtuse, favouring the figurative over the literal. Humbug followed next, an apt moniker given the Scrooge-like disdain that greeted it. Recorded in the American desert, under the stewardship of Josh Homme, the Brit-rockers were caught by the scuzz. Humbug was criticised for being dark, difficult and dead-eyed. Others saw its necessity, recognising that if the band were to stay relevant then they must upgrade their sound. If they didn't, they risked being the street cornered scallywags of old.

After this came Suck It and See, a warmer sounding record, whose second half features gorgeous, chiming love songs. Then came AM, a stadium-filling behemoth, featuring spitball vocals and widescreen guitars – critics and fans loved it, many feeling it was their best offering since their trakie bottomed debut. The Arctic Monkeys had done their teething, they could now enjoy their teeth by relaxing into their sound.

That's not what's happened. 

From those bedroom days in Sheffield, dreaming of being an NME poster on the wall, Turner and the boys find themselves creating their own mythology on the lost highway of rock n’ roll. In making this new album, Turner has said that he wanted to create his own world. Like a bride on their wedding day, he's done this with something old, something new and something borrowed. Forging the ideas of The Beatles Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club and David Bowie’s 70’s records, he's made Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino. 

The concept album.

The concept: forced to leave earth because of an apocalypse, the Arctic’s find themselves playing in space at the Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino. (The Tranquility Base is the site on the moon where humans – Aldrin and Armstrong – walked on for the first time.) Some have been sniffy about the idea. The concept album, beloved in the 70’s for spawning Pink Floyd’s The Wall and David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust, is largely untouched in this millennia. Hip Hop artists Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar have had success with the form, but rock bands seem to stay clear, fearing the review ‘pretentious and wanky.’ (Shouldn’t rock and roll be daft and daring?) We’re all fans of boxsets, so why can’t an album be novelistic and interconnected?

The album begins with 'Star Treatment', a devilish piece of wordplay that establishes setting: rock and roll superstars in space. It’s a woozy, floating number with Pet Sounds percussion. Up next is 'One Point Perspective,' which commences with the twinkling of Jay Z’s 'Hard Knock Life' and Amerie '1 Thing' drumming, whilst Turner fantasises about calling it quits. The third track 'American Sports' is one of the more immediate tunes, putting in juxtaposition a lilting piano and ominous guitar. Its lyrical concerns are technological with a pointed allusion to a ‘virtual reality mask ... stuck on a parliament brawl.’ I guess it's the inverse of Ready Player One: where Turner's protagonist is tuning into quarrelling, car-crash media as opposed to colourful, escapist entertainment. Even though the album is set in space, its criticism is of our planet: we don’t have to put on a headset to enter an unreal world; by allowing reality TV stars to lead us we’ve made our own fake universe.

Trump gets powerslammed again later on 'Golden Trunks.' Here, Turner channels Elvis Costello’s 'Shipbuilding' and decries a leader who "reminds you of a wrestler wearing tight golden trunks. He’s got him sen a theme tune. They play it for him as he makes his way to the ring." It’s the perfect description of Donald Trump. His straw hair is redolent of former WWF champion, the nature boy Ric Flair. The rhetoric of the man is out of the wrestling playbook too: he calls out foreign baddies with catchphrases and slogans, only getting away with it because he jingoistically invokes the red, white and blue. Vince McMahon turned wrestling into a male soap opera; Trump has done the same with politics. And everyone loves a soap opera.

Trump has turned politics into spandex wrestling.

Following this is 'Four Out Of Five', a spacey take on Petula Clark’s 'Downtown.' Again, Turner showcases the wit that made the band famous when he imagines life on the moon. He describes dating during meteor strikes and Mexican restaurants popping up on a crater. The chorus ‘four stars out of five’ is a piss-take on how people appraise everything, forcing numbered judgments on emotional experiences – maybe a dig too at how his band’s output is constantly scrutinised.

Later, Turner reflects on science-fiction in the tune 'Science Fiction', giving us the clearest indication as to why he wrote in the style. As a fan of Phillip K. Dick, Turner is clearly attracted to the dangers of technology; however, he’s also interested in how the genre pits love against modernity. Directed towards a woman he loves, Turner juxtaposes romance with the sci-fi genre, explaining ‘I tried to write a song to make you blush but I’ve a feeling that the whole thing may end up too clever for its own good. The way some science fiction does.’ Here, Turner is two-headed Janus: reflecting on his heart and predicting criticism of the album.

In some cases, Turner is too clever for his own good. In the track 'Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino' he apes David Bowie too much, so much so that it sounds inauthentic: more akin to a Flight of the Conchords track 'Bowie in Space' than a tune on its own merit. The penultimate 'Batphone' has some terrific lines, but feels too discursive to catch fire.

'Ultracheese' is the grandstanding finale that has the Sinatra croon of vocal showmanship. With piano and voice at the centre, there’s less adornment. It’s Turner raising his voice to isolation. Stuck on the moon of stardom, he laments his pictures of friends on the wall, whom he doesn’t see at all. Interspersed amongst this personal concern is a political one: there's a reference to ‘dress like a fictional character from a place they called America in the Golden Age.’ Clearly, Turner, an LA resident, does not subscribe to the idea of ‘Make America Great Again.’ Trump’s vision of America is as fictitious as the sci-fi world he's created.

In crafting Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino the Arctic Monkeys have aimed for the stars. For some it’s an act of artful condescension: they’re looking down on their fans, showing no lyrical concern for their concerns. For me it’s not a misstep, but a giant leap for musickind. One of Britain's most popular bands has released a concept album with no lead single. In an age of disposability and playlists that’s something of a marvel. 

Hand on heart, I can’t say the boys have conquered space – some tracks don't work – what they have done though is discovered a brave new world. They've taken the risk to go boldly where few have gone before. For that, I'll love them to the moon and back.

Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino is out now.