Arctic Monkeys third album, 'Humbug', was sure to sell bucketloads. Which it did (outsold all other Top Five albums combined in it's first week). The album was not produced by James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco fame, but by Josh Homme, of Queens Of The Stone Age. The result is an overall murkier, distorted sound.
Gone are the two/two and a half minute foot tapping, frantic songs that comment on life and love, instead, 3/4 minute ballads that are replaced slower, with a more developed sound. On the main part, catchy riffs are shunned so that the song as a whole can flourish. Catchy riffs can still be found in tracks such as 'Crying Lightning', 'Potion Approaching' and 'Dangerous Animals', but even in these songs lays a distracting overall fuzzy reverb, leaving the song lacking in crispness or vitality, the very things that helped the band achieve the incredible popularity they hold today.
Humbug heralds the maturing and refinement of the Arctic Monkeys. Despite what other critics may say, by no means is it a terrible album. It's just that it's different to their previous works. Unfortunately, this bold change may isolate their original fan base, leaving them wondering what happened to their beloved band.
Matt Helders is the drummer for Arctic Monkeys. He also does some remixing on the side. Not half bad.
Nice work, guy from Arctic Monkeys.
arctic monkeys suck
ReplyDeletei would've agreed with you 6 months ago
ReplyDeletei might agree with you 6 months from now though