Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning (Domino)
3/5
So here's what we know about the new Arctic Monkeys record, and the Arctic Monkeys in general;
One. It's called Humbug, which, in keeping with Arctic Monkeys LPs of yore, is a sh*t title.
Two. It comes two years after an album (with a sh*t title) that had no choruses, but was actually pretty good.
Three. The band have all grown long hair and wear Black Sabbath t-shirts now. Make of that what you will.
Four. Throughout their rise to a position from which they can, at times, lay claim to being the biggest band in British music, they haven't seemed to enjoy one second of it. People have lauded the Arctic Monkeys' acne-ed photos, magic-dirty-realist lyrics and apparent total disregard for aesthetic as an unshifting desire to play the game their way and not be corrupted by the pitfalls of fame. It's not, though, because the band are clearly, genuinely, hating the game - when was the last time you saw Alex Turner smile, for heaven's sake?
Anyway, four years on from that song about robots, we end up at 'Crying Lightning'. I don't know what other people were expecting, but I was expecting exactly this. It is, essentially, the entirety of Favourite Worst Nightmare, slowed down, with the groove removed. It is certainly commendable that the band aren't regressing to M.O.R., but did we really need to afford so much hype to this 4/4 slog-fest, all flattened 2nds and augmented 4ths? Lyrically Mr. Turner is as off-kilter-familiar as ever, but now it's all about sweets and delivered in a breathy New-York-by-Nottingham croon that sits rather uncomfortably amidst all the reverb-swirl.
Does having Alexa Chung as a band girlfriend and going to parties at Diddy's count as playing the game? Perhaps.
Does choosing this mid-tempo no-wave crawl as a lead single? Not really, no.
Does that make it good? We'll have to wait and see.
Artists in this article: Arctic Monkeys
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