Arctic Monkeys’ new album, Humbug, is an appropriately titledkiss-off to their old image. Their fairly detailed stories of staying out toolate have mutated into something cryptic, the drunken frenzy of chords hasgiven way to a dark, atmospheric sound. Listening to the band’s earlier,polar-opposite efforts, enlisting Josh Homme of Queensof the Stone Age to produce some of the new album would seem like a terribleidea. But listening to the revamped digs of Humbug,it’s pretty clear they made the right choice.
“We were still young on the first album,and on the second one still quite young,” says bassist Nick O’Malley. “I thinknow that we’re in our early 20s, we’re grasping the musical side of it more,and able to do things we couldn’t do. Wecan get away from the shifty storytelling that everyone loved us for, Isuppose, but that we couldn’t imagine doing forever.”
It’s easy to forget that when the ArcticMonkeys’ age belied their talent, their talent also belied their age. The bandis still listening to the cultural touchstones of music for the first time. Itisn’t just their newfound fandom for Nick Cave, manifesting itselfon YouTube as a seemingly out-of-the-blue cover of “Red Right Hand.” Betweenthe band’s second full album, FavouriteWorst Nightmare, and the new Humbug, O’Malleyhas just now had his first Creedence Clearwater Revival phase, as well as hisfirst of Pink Floyd. He’s only a couple of years removed from digesting theVelvet Underground catalog. For the excesses of the lyrics, the band was stillvirginal where it mattered: in the record collection.
So, perhaps it is of no great surprisethat after four years20% of their livesArctic Monkeys were due for a reboot.“You always progress and want to try new things,” O’Malley says. “As long asyou listen to new music, there’s always new stuff you’d want to do.”
Or, at least, it shouldn’t come as asurprisethough it’s hard to convince all Arctic Monkeys fans of that notion.
Faux outrage has come from all angles.There were those who felt the band, being the prototypical band that playedArctic Monkeys music, was leaving the not-yet-entirely explored, if safer,pastures of their own genre. And there were those who saw the band behind the“fifth greatest British album of all time” committing the ultimate blasphemy byshifting their sound while recording an album at Homme’s studios in America. We are, afterall, supposed to be rivals.
“I don’t think it’s something I’mconscious of, and I don’t think I’d like to be, either,” O’Malley says.“Everyone thinks that we sounded extremely British. And then a lot of peoplewere surprised, and said our album sounded American. We just thought it soundedlike what we wanted to sound like at the time. We never thought of it geographically.”
But if they’ve become more American,they’ve done it with the best intentions and the greatest curiosity. They arestill testing the waters, and haven’t even attempted all of the things theyhave on queue.
“I don’t think anyone ever gets to doeverything they want to do, especially musically,” O’Malley says.
ArcticMonkeys headline an 8 p.m. show at The Rave on Saturday, Sept. 26, with openersThe Like.
