13/Artic Monkeys/Humbug
Dear Arctic Monkeys, please never turn 30, as few lads document the trials and travails of being young, precocious, and in your 20’s as deftly as you. On this, their 3rd studio album, the boys in the band continue doing what they do best, documenting the young “fools on parade cavorting and carrying on for waiting eyes”, “frolicking and fucking about” here, there, and everywhere; And of course, that ever so omnipresent male 20-something feeling that you can’t go it alone, also known as, “chicks, man”. Few songwriters can weave together such believable and convincing tales of nightlife as vividly and poetically as lead vocalist Alex Turner, and when he turns his attention to girls, courting, and the game of love, it’s truly a wonder to behold. Alex places his heart on his sleeve, unable to “hold down the urgency”, begging a potential love interest to “coax him out his low” and “have a spin” on his propeller, for “yours is the only ocean” he wants to swing from. Underlying it all is the always reliable and strong rhythm section of Alex’s fellow bandmates, as well as the smoky “pinned down by the dark” sepia toned production of Sir Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age fame, who produced a large majority of the tracks on this disc, giving the album an atmospheric and fiery Mojave desert like sheen. A sheen that provides a sharp, fitting soundtrack to the “fools on parade” and lovesick, wayward souls, young and “in love” trying to keep it all together.
KEY TRACKS: Crying Lightning/Secret Door/Cornerstone
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