Arctic Monkeys Get A Little Serious
Arctic Monkeys’ third album leaves boyhood behind.
The Arctic Monkeys
Humbug
Released on Aug 25, 2009
Remember when “I Bet You Look Good
On The Dancefloor” hit the airwaves? Boy I do, the catchiness,
the quirkiness, and my goodness, we can’t forget the inevitable marketability.
What I’m trying to portray is that Whatever People Say I Am, That’s
What I’m Not was just a fun album all around. It was full
of youth and vitality, it was playful, yet seemingly innocent, and as
you’re probably aware, everyone loved it.
A year later we see the release of Favourite Worst Nightmare. It was heavy, fast and unarguably more progressive. These style
changes, however, didn’t diminish what people loved about the band,
their quirky cleverness. The lyrical wittiness was all there,
they had lost a bit of their innocence, and they had shifted a bit
from their roots, and as it turned out, everyone loved it.
So what, you might ask, is my problem
with Humbug? Well, to quote the typical TV show break-up,
“You’ve changed.” I have nothing wrong with change.
I think it’s commonly agreed upon that bands should in the very least
switch things up a little, lest we end up with two of the same albums.
The only exception to this rule being Of Montreal’s latest album -
I’m fairly confident when I say they’ve climaxed and should stop
now unless their future plans include disappointing me - but I digress.
The problem with Humbug is that
it isn’t even made by the same band that brought us “When The Sun
Goes Down” and “Florescent Adolescent.” Where most bands,
in the typical career path tend to hit a wall and either crash full
force or find a way over, the Arctic Monkeys’ opted to try to dig
under this “wall.” This subterranean route has effectively
done away with our Arctic Monkeys of the past, and presented itself
on the other side as a different animal all together.
I’ll admit, that may have been a little harsh, but you just have to understand one thing, once you pop this CD into your stereo, or in a more likely fashion, download it illegally someplace and listen on your ipod while trekking through the city, that you won’t be hearing anything like the Arctic Monkeys’ albums of old.
As is customary to do, we’ll start right from the beginning. The first track Humbug graces us with is “My Propeller.” It lacks the general frenzied feeling that the band once prided itself in giving us. With an almost muddy sounding bass line, and a ho-hum tempo to match, there’s really nothing exciting happening here.
Unlike “My Propeller,” however,
“Crying Lightning” can do something for us. They bump up the
tempo, let us hear a bit of Alex Turner’s ever-famous lyricism, and
even make us believe that the rest of the album will follow suite.
Now while that last part I didn’t appreciate, the first two bits won’t
be forgotten, and even transcend into the next track, “Dangerous Animals.”
It’s a decent enough song, maybe a little lazy, but hey, you’ve
still got to give them props for at least making sure their fans know
how to spell. "D.A.N.G.E.R.O.U.S! ...So let's make a mess, lioness!"
“Fire And The Thud” brings out some new tricks. Those tricks being a little known instrument called the tambourine and some previously unheard, almost haunting vocals. This all continues for about three minutes until, all the sudden, out of nowhere, comes this crazy fucking guitar solo. It’s pretty sweet, not gonna lie.
Things conclude with “The Jeweler’s
Hands.” I honestly have no idea where this song came from.
It’s a dark, marauding, and filled with frightful lyrics. It’s
filled with the new somber vocal stylings of Alex Turner, dry drum work,
and heavy grooves. That being so, it doesn’t fit in with Humbug’s other songs by a long shot, but I really don’t mind
since it’s my favorite song off the album.
Cheers.
High Point
“The Jeweler’s Hands” doesn’t even sound relatively similar to anything ever released by the Arctic Monkeys before. It almost makes you wish the whole album was as mysterious and ominous as this song.
Low Point
This album solidifies the belief that the Arctic Monkeys just not as fun as they once were. All work and no play make jack a dull boy.
Posted by Andrew Scott on Aug 25, 2009 @ 6:00 am
