The Arctic Monkeys grew their hair and enlisted the ear (and heavier bass lines and guitar squeals) of Josh Homme for their third album Humbug. In interviews, they’ve mentioned the influence of Black Sabbath on the collection and said they listened to Hendrix and Cream while they recorded it. The brooding, sexy, minor-key “My Propeller” offered a darker, more mature sound and first single “Crying Lightning” teased with sludgy psychedelia. Those are also literally the first two tracks out of the collection’s ten, so the big question is whether or not the Monkeys maintain that incense-burning/black-arts digging vibe all the way through.
It surely seems like it when listening to track three, “Dangerous Animals,” a bottled-up and then mildly explosive burner that gives us crunchy fuzz guitar, a repeating underwater gong sound, and a bona fide S&M storyline: “Sharpen the heel of your boot / And you press it to my chest and you make me wheeze / And to my knees you do promote me.” Humbug‘s 39 minutes are filled with plenty of this sort of come on. We’re not necessarily talking Velvet Underground bleakness, but Alex Turner is clearly pushing his pen deeper into his notepad. One of his best lines shows up in the almost balladic “Cornerstone”: “I thought I saw you in the battleship / but it was only a lookalike… / … She was close, close enough to be your ghost / But my chances turned to toast when I asked her if I could call her your name.” By the song’s end, because this is the world of Humbug, he’s being told “yes, you can call my anything you want” by his ex’s (or whomever’s) sister.
The Humbug atmosphere’s made up of broken arms, sweaty walls, scratched varnish, irritating embraces, snake pit shadows, wolves, obsession, seat belts that smell like your lady, distracting mirrors. There are questions: “What came first the chicken or the dickhead?” But mostly there are declarations about dirt, danger, lust. A song like “Secret Door” opens with a pastoral feel until Turner starts singing about “fools on parade” and we realize it’s not going to be so feel-good. (Nothing here is feelgood.) A few moments later the track opens to a mid-tempo rocker depicting a phantasmagorical dance. Many of the songs feature this carnival-esque feel via murky, somber under-layers.
Humbug sticks doggedly to a tense but seductive pace. It can feel sludgy, though the intricate details are usually pristine. “Dance Little Liar” opens with an echoing phase before a few rolling beats from the drum introduce a gothy (or at least Victorian) late-night vibe. The biggest rocker, “Pretty Visitors,” opens with spooky organs and then kicks into high-gear — great drum rolls and herky jerky dynamics — before slowing into a creepy, droning chant. Before the track’s close (head to about the 2-minute mark) the guitars are upped and you finally hear a moment that wouldn’t blush from a Sabbath comparison.
For the most part the ominous makeover works — and the layered production keeps you listening closely — but on the soulful “Fire And The Thud,” complete with backup singers, you might find yourself thinking that, yeah, at times the album does thud a bit. That said, they’re unrelenting about it, carrying out the switchup all the way through to the elegantly dark and almost Doors-like closer, “The Jeweller’s Hands.”
Arctic Monkeys are maturing, exploring different textures and emotions, and the result is an album that requires close and careful listening. It’s an enjoyable attitude adjustment that we’ve only just started digging into, but judging from the nuances we find on second and third and fourth listens, like the band, it should keep on growing.
Humbug is out 8/25 via Domino. Keep your eyes out for them in the U.S, starting this weekend at APW. As the “Jeweller’s Hands” puts it, don’t fall off the ferry into the night, ‘k?
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I know you guys have Atlas Sound’s Logos. Please give us a premature evaluation. (Or does it have to leak first?)
Think it’s a livelier discussion if we wait for the leak.
you guys mean the leak from last year? becuase thats bullshit; or did the real thing leak?? that would be pretty rad
Favorite Cream song?…the George written “Badge”…I suspect that’s a happy acdcident when a crazy song structure like that works…can’t want to write a song like that, it just has to come…
Probably the Robert Johnson cover, ‘Crossroads’; either that or ‘White Room’. I must say though, I haven’t heard any Cream, or Hendrix for that matter, in the 4 or 5 songs I’ve listened to from the new album. Maybe the rolling drums on ‘Pretty Visitors’ is a bit Ginger Baker, anyone else?
I just hope it doesn’t turn into their Be Here Now. You can’t help but miss the fun and irreverent attitude of their earlier records.
Still do not understand why they felt the need to involve Homme. Sure favourite was no whatever, but I do not understand how Homme will make life better
I loved Favourite even more than Whatever. But both are great, hitting a nice blend of pop and rock, with witty, exciting lyrics. The first two singles we’ve gotten from Humbug seem like they throw all of that away (well, the lyrics might still be solid), and if the rest of the album follows suit, it’ll be a big disappointment for me. And I’ll blame Homme.
Honestly, I’m not sure what the appeal of the guy is (in almost any of his projects).
I liked Favourite more as well. These guys seem to be getting better and better.
Most of the tracks in Humbug weren’t even produced by Homme. Just a couple, and from what I read most of Homme-produced tracks are going to end up as b-sides.
how about a premature evaluation of the new dodo’s?
this album is heavier and darker… but alex’s vocals continue to give a rising feel to the songs… def feel this as a grower… potion approaching is my fav track so far
you can definitely tell which songs Homme did and which ones Ford did.
pretty sure the backup singer in “the fire and the thud” is alison mosshart.
p.s. this album tastes delicious!
The Arctic Monkqueens of the Stone Age, indeed.
Crap cd, 0 good songs. The Strokes are like a MILLION times better than these guys. This dude sings like a 15 year old seriously… The record is ofc overproduced but that isn’t the biggest problem, these guys just can’t write good melodies.
im a huge strokes fan but coming here and spewing ignorant opinions all over the place with zero musical backing makes you and every strokes fan look bad. Alex Turner doesnt sing like “a 15 year old”, its called singing in a tenor range. Arctic monkeys past records were great and stood out because they wrote good melodies and harmonies. You shouldnt really even talk until the next strokes album comes out and considering that Julian is about to release his solo that doesnt look like its coming soon
you silly tw*t you obviously havent listened to much of their stuff, say they cant write good melodies after listening to ‘still take you home’, and ‘view from the afternoon’
ya i can say they can write good melodies and harmonies even though not all of their songs have them/good ones. I’d like to see you write close to 30 songs and have them all have interesting and complete melodies and harmonies. Never said their albums were filler free
The album is actually sounding really good always a bit worrying when you hear of the “darker sound” but ive heard album versions of My Propellor and Pretty Visitors and they are both amazing especially Pretty Visitors. One of the few British bands evolving successfully I think!
Both albums had an equal amount of good songs and duds. So far I’m noticing no stand-outs or really terrible song here, maybe a sign that it will be a grower.
I always enjoy “Premature Evaluation” and wish it appeared more often. How about PEs on Jay Reatard, Os Mutantes, Yo La Tengo, and Atlas Sound?
I’ve been dwelling with a couple live version of these songs for a while now, I remember it taking a long time to get used to Favourite Worst Nightmare, so I’m guessing this will be the same story. I think, though, they do “look” ridiculous. ha. lets all complain.
no one cares about the Arctic Monkeys.
Whatever people say that you are, that’s what you are, douche.
-1 to evan
(whats up with ratings?)
what’s up with ratings is that you have to be a registered member to rate comments now.
everyone knows that, you numbtard.
p.s. the Arctic Monkeys are awful.
no one cares about you “numbtard”
after seeing them at APW, the sabbath influence shines through a lot more clearly (live at least).
There’s no doubt these guys can write songs with good harmonies/melodies etc. They’re musicians. But there seems to be a pattern going on with these dudes. Their first releases flirted with angular guitars and dance-y rock… and now they’re conveniently influenced by Sabbath, Psychedelia, Fuzz, the “incense-burning/black-arts digging vibe”? Remember how Dead Meadow, The Black Angels, Serena Maneesh were doing this same thing and were really popular a couple years or so ago? And angular bands were popular before them? Way to capitalize on trends past their shelf life dudes. So what’s next… are they gonna release a lo-fi/surf/noisepop/shitgaze album three years from now?
This album is soooooo good! Its tops. This album and Radio Moscow’s Brain Cycles are the best albums of the year so far. Im an electronic artist, and I can say we dont compare to bands like this.
The Monkeys’ first album is still their best so far in my book. I must admit, the video for “Crying Lightning” made the song better for me. It also reminded me of Modest Mouse a la We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.
Yeah Humdinger…Dead Meadow, Black Angels, and Serena Maneesh were just sooo popular a couple years ago, who isn’t ripping them off?
They didn’t have Top 40 hits if that’s what you’re getting at, but Psychedelia was definitely a fashionable trend from 2004 to 2007. The difference between those bands and The Arctic Monkeys were some real inspiration. They live and breath that stuff before the trend and even to this day as the media/blog frenzy has died down. It’s obvious that the Monkees are trying to cash in on that trend even though they’re a minute late. I just like my bands who are inspired more than marketing reports and record sales.
I don’t agree. You say ‘now they are conveniently influenced by Sabbath, Psychedelia, Fuzz…’, which makes your argument contradictory, since it is hardly ‘convenient’ to ‘capitalize on trends after their shelf life’. Indeed it’s rather inconvenient, so why would they bother?
My feeling is that Josh Homme got them listening to that sort of stuff for inspiration, because his brand of music has always shown an interest in that style of rock music, and he’s been doing it a lot longer than Black Mountain, Serena Maneesh and Dead Meadow. Doesn’t that make more sense than your ridiculous theory?
Moreover, where does their second album (and for that matter Alex Turner’s side project The Last Shadow Puppets, with it’s string laden spaghetti western soundtrack-influenced indie rock style) fit into your theory of trends? because it’s neither angular-dance rock/punk nor hard-rock/psychedelic-inspired fuzzed-out guitar music? In my opinion, they have shown a reasonably natural progression as a band up to this point in their career.
They’re not trying to capitalize on out-dated trends, they are simply making the kind of music that is influenced by the bands that they enjoyed listening to while they were writing and recording new material, and that is 100% normal.
N.B. I defend your point that there was a bit of a trend with those kinds of bands, between roughly 2004-2007, look no further than Wolfmother and how popular they were for proof of that.
Humdinger pretty much nailed this. Besides, every fucking band on the planet has already raped the past anyway. Dead Meadow….hahaha, Black Angels …. hahahah – all garbage. Dead Meadow is a watered down Nebula. Point is … Rock N Roll has been in the recycling business for 30+ years now.
Just got back from seeing the Monkeys at Highline. It was AMAZING, the sounded so much better live. They more than nailed the songs. Diddy dropped by with his entourage and acted like their biggest fan.
who are the artic monkeys?
They should team up with Nigel Godrich for their next LP… Yes.. I’m serious about this.
Crying Lasers? Sounds catchy.
i hope they fucking mix this album properly. I loved the tracks off of favorite and whatever but seriously SO OVER COMPRESSED.. its like they decided to max the volumes and maybe the music one dimensional in that all the dynamics were the same. it was disgusting to listen to. so please.. fucking james ford don’t over compress this record
the strokes and the monkeys are 2 COMPLETELY different bands, comparing them, would be like comparing zeppelin to the doors, u cant, its not the same thing….same i dea maybe, but u see where im going… those close minded music fans who feel we have to compare bands like we compare crosby and ovechkin shuld go fuck off and leave all of us REAL fans alone