Arctic Monkeys
Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

THE REVIEW

In 2018, when this album was released, I immediately bought it: I have always liked the Arctic Monkeys and appreciated all the albums they had made up to that point, even though they are very different from each other. At the first listen of TBHC, I was a bit put off: a carpet of piano and the almost subdued voice of Alex Turner hypnotizes the listener with his almost spoken delivery. No aggressive guitars and no "straightforward" melodies, the band's old trademark. The only exception might be the single "Four Out Of Five," which recalls the sounds of AM. So, can we talk about disappointment? In reality, this turned out to be an album that grows every time you listen to it, gradually capturing new interesting details. For me, it was like that, and over time I have increasingly appreciated the aristocratic and almost vain atmospheres created by the album. The effect is relaxing, hypnotic: it feels like being in a rich English country house and sipping 5 o'clock tea, surrounded by nature. The album is compact, the structure of many songs is similar, but that does not mean they are the same as each other. An honorable mention for the already mentioned "Four Out Of Five" and "She Looks Like Fun," which have the merit of standing out from the rest of the album without affecting its compactness and "mood" (the latter vaguely reminds me of "I'm Finding It Harder To Be a Gentleman" by the White Stripes), for the initial and self-ironic "Star Treatment" ("I just wanted to be one of the Strokes, now look at the mess you made me make") and for the enveloping "The World's First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip" (longest title ever) and "Batphone." A challenging and experimental album, that does not immediately grab you like many of their previous works, but if you have the patience to listen to it and listen to it again, it brings satisfaction.