I feel the urge to write something about the Arctic Monkeys' last album, since Neeharika beat me to it at Split. Well, I have been going over and over it in the past week or so. Yeah, I know, but I really didn't have the time. And I was still tripping over Favourite Worst Nightmare.
Humbug is a much more relaxed album, after Favourite Worst Nightmare's high-strung, nigh-cardiac arrest feel. It picks up, right where FWM's last track, 505 left off. Josh Homme (Kyuss, QOTSA and Eagles of Death Metal) joins the boys from Sheffield on this album as producer and he certainly leaves his imprint, bringing out in vivid detail the darker, melancholy strains that have always marked Alex Turner's songwriting.
The album kicks off with Cryin' Lightning, and that's about as much excitement that this album sees in terms of aggression. Turner writes in his inimitable, detailed style - something that has clearly worked for the Monkeys over the last two albums. The song talks of an over-indulgent obsession to consume confectionery and sweets, while the bass line builds the song up with a sense of apocalyptic foreboding. Jamie Cook does great work on the understated guitar parts when the song starts out, and a tight rhythm section holds it all together beautifully.
Turner cements his position as the dirty boy with My Propeller. 'My propeller won't spin and I can't get it started on my own/When are you arriving?', the song is replete with references to getting it on good with, well, whoever it is you want to get it on with. Continuing with his snide social commentary about the scene around which he grew up, Turner writes deeply personal tunes in an almost off-hand way, and although he gets it a little wrong on Dangerous Animals (spelt out chorus, really?), the track is ably rescued by the band with tight rhythm parts. Matt Helders is the Monkeys' not-so-secret weapon, keeping it together with some great drumming and vocal harmonies. There's a bootleg of him singing Last Christmas somewhere on the internet, and it's pretty darn good.
The centre-piece and crowning glory of this album is the ballady Cornerstone, wherein lies Turner's simple lyrical genius. "I smelt your scent on the seatbelt" is his idea of a romance, if this song doesn't leave you with a wry smile and some nostalgia in your head, chances are that it's been a while since you got laid. The song speaks of this girl that he can't get over and he wants to call every little whore, tramp and floozy that Turner meets in the dank pubs in Ol' Blighty, that very girl's name - like he's stuck in a time warp, infested with her memories and the strange hopelessness that comes with them. If misery begets company, we're with you till you're writing such tunes, Mr. Turner.
The album returns to familiar Arctic Monkeys territory with Pretty Visitors, punching and clanging it's way in much like 'D is for Dangerous', this one is a doff of the hat to the more violent fans of band. Great lyrics on this one too, 'All the pretty visitors came and wave their arms/And cast the shadow of the snakepit on the room' & 'What came before, the chicken or the dickhead?'.
The band has always stayed close to the formula that created the huge hype around their first album, and it has never failed them. On this record, the Monkeys make forays in several new directions, and although Homme could have pushed them even further, this album is pretty avant garde for the Monkeys.
Humbug is not better than either of the two albums they released before, but it's only because it treads a different path in terms of arrangements, feel and production. And it also goes to show that the Arctic Monkeys still have their heads right on their shoulders, clearly an achievement for a band that could've easily drowned itself out in the hype and hooplah that surrounded them, even before their first album.
One thing is for sure, after this album, no one's going to ask who the fuck are the Arctic Monkeys anymore.
And here's a pretty neat video for Cornerstone:
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