Artist: Arctic Monkeys
Album: Humbug
Year: 2009
Grade: 3 pretzels
I’ve got to give the Arctic Monkeys credit for not doing the same thing over and over again. Despite being at the vanguard of the recent wave of guitar-centric English groups, they’ve resisted the temptation to keep rehashing the songs that made them famous, releasing three vastly different albums over the course of the past four years. They’ve shown more raw talent and imagination than virtually all of their Brindie rock peers, proving themselves to be musical trendsetters, rather than followers. However, as wonderful as all these things are, they can’t completely save the dry, uncomfortable puzzle that is Humbug.
The Monkeys’ debut album featured the fast, thin, staccato guitar pop that people associate them with. However, only a year later, 2007’s Favourite Worst Nightmare showed the band diving into much darker waters, favoring gritty, grinding guitar sounds and more ominous tones. Humbug takes that evolution another step or two forward, creating something dark, moody and dense, far removed from the brightness that brought them to the world’s attention.
Much of this new sound can be credited to the album’s co-producer, Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age. Homme’s brand of stoned, repetitive hard rock pops up all over the album, particularly on the stomping “Dangerous Animals”. This pairing of band and producer seems full of promise, since Homme seems to be bringing out the band’s louder, rougher inclinations, which certainly isn’t a bad thing for a band that can sound very thin on occasion. However, the Monkeys also seem to be going in a different direction, heading towards the theatric balladry of frontman Alex Turner’s sideproject, the Last Shadow Puppets. This makes Humbug feel very split, between downcast rock and soaring, quintessentially British balladry.
Turner himself seems to have changed his lyrical style. The detailed stories of the band’s first two albums have been replaced by elliptical, cryptic wordplay and puzzling phrases. The album’s lead single, “Crying Lightning”, is a mess of disorienting words, floating by without giving you much time to really interpret the abstract imagery. Why is someone “aggravating the ice cream man?” And what is this “game you called ‘crying lightning’?” Turner certainly doesn’t answer these questions. His voice also sounds much more deadpan and flat that it has on past albums. Again, one wonders exactly how much of an influence Josh Homme and his stoner-rock vibes influenced the band.
The biggest problem with Humbug is that it doesn’t really seem to go anywhere. After a spiky first half, the album settles down for a handful of more low-key numbers. This latter half definitely feels overshadowed by the jumpiness of the album’s beginning, meaning that any kind of momentum across the album is destroyed. Second-half standout “Pretty Visitors” is an impressive, quesy rocker that shows the band is still capable of writing interesting material, but the album then closes with the six-minute snooze-fest of “The Jeweller’s Hands”. Humbug is an album that shoots itself in the foot whenever it starts firing on all cylinders. It’s frustrating to hear a good band like the Monkeys struggling in their attempts to keep things fresh, but it’s probably best to see this as a respectable-but-failed experiment in their attempts to keep ahead of the game.
The Monkeys’ debut album featured the fast, thin, staccato guitar pop that people associate them with. However, only a year later, 2007’s Favourite Worst Nightmare showed the band diving into much darker waters, favoring gritty, grinding guitar sounds and more ominous tones. Humbug takes that evolution another step or two forward, creating something dark, moody and dense, far removed from the brightness that brought them to the world’s attention.
Much of this new sound can be credited to the album’s co-producer, Josh Homme of Queens Of The Stone Age. Homme’s brand of stoned, repetitive hard rock pops up all over the album, particularly on the stomping “Dangerous Animals”. This pairing of band and producer seems full of promise, since Homme seems to be bringing out the band’s louder, rougher inclinations, which certainly isn’t a bad thing for a band that can sound very thin on occasion. However, the Monkeys also seem to be going in a different direction, heading towards the theatric balladry of frontman Alex Turner’s sideproject, the Last Shadow Puppets. This makes Humbug feel very split, between downcast rock and soaring, quintessentially British balladry.
Turner himself seems to have changed his lyrical style. The detailed stories of the band’s first two albums have been replaced by elliptical, cryptic wordplay and puzzling phrases. The album’s lead single, “Crying Lightning”, is a mess of disorienting words, floating by without giving you much time to really interpret the abstract imagery. Why is someone “aggravating the ice cream man?” And what is this “game you called ‘crying lightning’?” Turner certainly doesn’t answer these questions. His voice also sounds much more deadpan and flat that it has on past albums. Again, one wonders exactly how much of an influence Josh Homme and his stoner-rock vibes influenced the band.
The biggest problem with Humbug is that it doesn’t really seem to go anywhere. After a spiky first half, the album settles down for a handful of more low-key numbers. This latter half definitely feels overshadowed by the jumpiness of the album’s beginning, meaning that any kind of momentum across the album is destroyed. Second-half standout “Pretty Visitors” is an impressive, quesy rocker that shows the band is still capable of writing interesting material, but the album then closes with the six-minute snooze-fest of “The Jeweller’s Hands”. Humbug is an album that shoots itself in the foot whenever it starts firing on all cylinders. It’s frustrating to hear a good band like the Monkeys struggling in their attempts to keep things fresh, but it’s probably best to see this as a respectable-but-failed experiment in their attempts to keep ahead of the game.
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