Crooning Monkeys look just as good OFF the dancefloor
ARCTIC MONKEYS: The Car (Domino)
Verdict: Runs stylishly through the gears ★★★★☆
CARLY RAE JEPSEN: The Loneliest Time (Interscope)
Verdict: Bubblegum star grows up ★★★☆☆
ONCE the golden boys of indie rock, the Arctic Monkeys now bear scant resemblance to the gritty Sheffield guitar outfit whose 2006 debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, was packed with songs about taxi ranks and northern nightclubs.
Their live shows are still glorified parties, bolstered by clouds of dry ice and arenapleasing singles. The studio is a different proposition: if their previous album, Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino, was their most surprising, The Car is a close second.
As its prosaic title suggests, the band’s seventh LP is more earthbound than its experimental predecessor, named after the site of the first lunar landing in 1969.
But The Car shares its forerunner’s liking for ballads and lyrical introspection. Where he once belted out rock anthems, frontman Alex Turner now sings in a warm, soulful croon. ‘It’s not to do with becoming technically better,’ he says. ‘It’s about singing in a way that’s more in tune with what you’re trying to express.’ And what he’s singing about, with an air of studied detachment, are the experiences of a star who has swapped Sheffield steel for LA sunsets . . . and is starting to wonder if the grass really is greener on the other side.
THE lush arrangements give things a retro feel. There are rich, orchestral strings, and analogue sounds that echo Bowie in the 1970s. Turner’s been down this road before — on side-project The Last Shadow Puppets and the 2017 LP, Belladonna Of Sadness, he produced for American singer Alexandra Savior — but this is still a bold move. There’d Better Be A Mirrorball sets the nostalgic tone. ‘ Yesterday still leaking through the roof, but that’s nothing new,’ he sings.
The sense of rock star ennui is even more pronounced on I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am, a portrait of Hollywood hell. ‘It’s the intermission, let’s shake a few hands,’ he snaps, his voice dripping with sarcasm.Things take a darker turn on Sculptures Of Anything Goes, co-written by guitarist Jamie Cook, with Turner looking forward to a life of ‘village coffee mornings with not long since retired spies’.
Holed up in LA, he also looks back fondly on his band’s formative years. ‘We had them out of their seats, waving their arms and stomping their feet,’ he recalls on Big Ideas.
‘Why not rewind to Rawborough Snooker Club? I could pass for 17 if I just get a shave,’ he adds on Hello You.
Of course, all these seemingly autobiographical home thoughts from abroad could be just another clever ruse from a notoriously opaque band. ‘If we guess who
I’m pretending to be, do we win a prize?’ asks the singer on penultimate track Mr Schwartz, suggesting he might be playing the whole thing for knowing laughs.
What’s not in doubt is that The Car is another assured step from a band who refuse to stand still.
Having written the last Arctics album on piano, Turner delivers superb guitar on a couple of tracks here, while there are excellent detours into acoustic Latin rhythms (Mr Schwartz) and sumptuous funk (Hello You).
The experiments of Tranquility Base didn’t dent the Arctic Monkeys’ commercial prospects in the slightest. That album topped the charts and only a handful of tickets remain for next year’s stadium tour. With The Car, they are set to take fans on another stylish drive around the block.
▪ A TALENT show hopeful championed by Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen became a star with 2011’ s effervescent Call Me Maybe. The Vancouver singer has since fluctuated between glossy bubblegum and more intrepid synth-pop. She finally gets the balance right on The Loneliest Time.
The tunes are catchy, if a little generic, while collaborators such as Rostam Batmanglij, once of Vampire Weekend, and Rufus Wainwright bring class and credibility. Her flighty voice is at its best on Talking To Yourself and the amusing Beach House, which details online dating mishaps.
Fellow Canadian Wainwright is an unlikely duet partner, but his voice dovetails brilliantly with hers on the title track, a disco romp that suggests Jepson is growing up gracefully.
▪ BOTH albums out today. Arctic Monkeys start a tour on May 29, 2023, in Bristol (gigsandtours.com). Carly Rae Jepsen starts hers on February 7 in Leeds (livenation.co.uk).