A few weeks back they returned to the live scene. On Wednesday we had the official release of ‘Do I Wanna Know?’. This morning came the announcement of a new record. On the 9th of September, a Monday, Arctic Monkeys will release AM to what, after their Glastonbury performance (and last year’s appearance at the Olympics), might just be the biggest fanfare since their long ago and far away debut album of 2006. It feels like it’s gonna be BIG.
Of the track, it sounds even creamier in its official capacity than it did on those first hazy youtube clips. The snares bite harder, the vocals are slick and double tracked and that riff melts into your ears. There’s a video too, a sumptuously animated affair with oscilloscope-d girls and muscle cars and other things very much not from Yorkshire. It all heralds a whole new era for the band, distinctly different to anything they’ve previously delivered. Sure, the motorbikes and models of Suck It And See are still hanging around, but now they feel more like stamps of authenticity than ironic rockstar props.
In an interview with Zane Lowe, frontman Alex Turner defended the title of their fifth record, claiming that it works perfectly to “initial” the record as a model of exactly what they believe they should sound like. Whether that’ll be a completely different sonic departure, or some kind of amalgamation of seven years worth of music, remains to be seen. Whatever it is, it’s sure to be exciting. Once again produced by James Ford, with Ross Orton (who manned the controls for ‘You And I’) on co-production duties, it also features guest appearances from Josh Homme, Bill Ryder-Jones and Pete Thomas, as well as the words of the one and only John Cooper Clarke on a track named after his classic poem “I Wanna Be Yours”.
The tracklisting of AM runs as follows:
1. Do I Wanna Know?
2. R U Mine?
3. One For The Road
4. Arabella
5. I Want It All
6. No. 1 Party Anthem
7. Mad Sounds
8. Fireside
9. Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?
10. Snap Out Of It
11. Knee Socks
12. I Wanna Be Yours
