Album Review: ‘The Car’ by Arctic Monkeys- Their most ambitious album yet

Arctic Monkeys lead singer ‘Alex Turner’ on stage. Picture source: Raph_PH

In the four years since their last release, Arctic Monkeys have been working on their seventh album ‘The Car’. This album is by far their most ambitious, building on the jazz influences from their previous album ‘Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino’ to deliver an almost cinematic experience. If frontman and songwriter Alex Turner was dipping his toes into jazz through the last album, this is him diving in headfirst.

Turner very clearly made this album for an audience of one, himself. He’s past making what’s going to do well, or what his fans will love most, and it shows. Turner is at his most self-indulgent, abandoning the swagger and bravado of previous albums for a more subdued, relaxing sound. Those who liked his work with ‘The Last Shadow Puppets’ will be pleased, but anyone expecting an all-out rock album will be thoroughly disappointed.

The album opens strong with their single, ‘There’d Better Be a Mirrorball’, a song that utilises the piano and strings to create a harmonious sound that pairs very well with Turner’s singing voice. The strings and piano are prevalent on the album, featuring in almost every song.

Therein lies the problem with the album, almost all the songs sound the same. While stand-outs like ‘Body Paint’ and ‘Sculptures Of Anything Goes’, deliver their own distinct unique sound, the rest of the songs blend together. Turner's signature wit is almost entirely absent from the album, with very few lyrics that stand-out or sticks in the listeners' head after listening.

This could be forgiven if the album managed to stick the landing with the final song, ‘Perfect Sense’, but it doesn’t. Arctic Monkeys have always had a reputation for finishing strong, with their previous two albums closing with ‘I Wanna Be Yours’, and ‘The Ultracheese’, one being a classic love ballad and the other being one of their more emotionally devastating songs, this closer is neither.

Perhaps it’s a good thing that Turner is making music that is so unapologetically him rather than going down the same route as most ageing rockstars, making the most commercial, fan-pleasing music to maintain relevance. Regardless of that, the album is nowhere near his best work, and when his career is done and people talk about his discography, people will have very little to say about The Car other than “It was different.”