Arctic Monkeys is quite arguably one of the most famous alternative bands of all time, averaging about 38,349,667 monthly listeners. It’s rare that you find someone who does not know about them. So, one can imagine how excited people are for their new album “The Car,” will it live up to their image? 

The last album that the band released, “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino,” was in 2018 and was nothing like “AM,” their most popular album in their discography. “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” was a huge rebrand and some fans were unsure of it. “The Car” proves that Alex Turner will be sticking with the new sound he established in that 2018 album. 

“The Car” is a very mellow lounge singer sounding album, with slower tempos and haunting vocals from the extremely talented lead singer Alex Turner. It is almost reminiscent of a couple of songs from another band that Alex Turner was the front man for briefly called The Last Shadow Puppets.  

This is a smaller project for the band with 10 tracks on the entire album, though this seems to be something that the band might start moving towards since their last project had 11 tracks. Even it if it is a bit brief, the album is wonderfully cohesive, and you can tell that a lot of thought was put into the production and order of the tracks. 

This whole album feels very intimate, some songs that come to mind are “Body Paint” and “Hello You.” These tracks feature piano and violin in the background along with guitar and bass. The slower pace really helps with the softer feel of these songs as well, it creates a feeling of melancholy.  

Most if not all of the songs on this album have great bass lines and great guitar playing, violins can be heard along with unique drums and drum patterns. All of this compliments Turner’s vocals wonderfully; his voice really suits this style of music and you can tell that he really cared about this project through the quality of his vocals throughout all of the tracks.  

Though it is vastly different from “AM,” “The Car” is still very charming and very unique. There really are not many other artists out there that make music like this. This mellow otherworldly feel that this album has is similar to their last album and it looks like they are going to stick with it. It also seems like they are enjoying this sound more. 

Some fans are disappointed because yet again a new Arctic Monkeys album does not sound exactly like “AM.” This band has been making music since 2002, of course they are going to eventually change their sound after nearly 20 years of preforming and making music. This new vibe they are going for seems more mature than their previous sound. Much like how they have matured, their sound is going to grow and change with them.  

Article by Sophia Meek