What happens when you open up someone’s head? Well for the most part there is a lot of blood, brains and screaming. But in the case of Alex Turner it’s a far more magical thing than a swift trip to A&E.
The lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys head is actually filled with beauty, wether it be awesome lyrics or just other ways to smirk at a crowd. Alex is the most formidable front man of our generation, and the band’s new EP is all the proof I need to show you.
Now let me just say all the things which aren’t in the album. There isn’t any 2 Chainz features (which is funny, seeing he did like 100 last year). There isn’t any bass drops or Jessie J wails. There are actually hardly any features (well duh it’s a rock album what do you expect). There isn’t any reference to Miley Cyrus, or the dreaded T word. There isn’t even Kanye West breathing deeply halfway through. Hey, there isn’t even Pharrel.
AM (yeah I know- a bit uncreative) is the 5th studio album by the Arctic Monkeys. And it’s a swimming pool, and you the listener are a little kid learning how to swim. The first track begins ‘Do I Wanna Know?’. A simplistic guitar riff and Alex ‘oh so amazing’ Turner crooning ‘Have ye got colour in yer cheeks’. It escalates quickly into an outer body experience of beautiful sound, it’s so beautiful you pull off those armbands (remember because we are in a swimming pool) and you drown into the album.
Now drowning doesn’t sound too pleasant, but it’s that three-dimensional sound that AM has got that makes you want to stay forever.Turner’s lyrics sound bizzare, out of this world and unintentionally sexy. ‘Arabella’s got them interstellagator skin boots’ “I wanna be your vacuum cleaner’ etc. Telling a girl that you want to be her dyson isn’t exactly that inviting, but in AM anything goes.
From ‘Let it Be’ by The Beatles pianos in ‘No.1 Party Anthem’, to Dr Dre sounding beats, it’s safe to say that Arctic Monkeys have gone a long way from accepting Brits dressed as Wizard of Oz characters.
They’ve gone so far that they now reside in the land of the rich and botoxed- LA. Should we be moaning saying that they’ve lost touch? That Alex is resembling Elvis more and more each Glasto performance? All you’ll see on twitter is that ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ (yeah they’ve never had talent for album names) will always be the best. But if AM is losing touch- let them live on Mars.
FAVOURITE SONG: I WANNA BE YOURS
FVOURITE LINE: I WANNA BE YOUR FORD CORTINA, I WON’T EVER RUST
RATING:10/10
BEST PLACE TO LISTEN: SPACE, or like you know, your room
