In the first seconds of AM, bass, kick and a few claps set the tempo like a metronome click. That catchy guitar riff bursts in. Unlike other songs such as “Brianstorm”, that was also heard ahead of the respective album’s launch and equally chosen to be its opening song, this is a slow build. But it grows deeply into you like few do.
While listening to “Do I Wanna Know?”, expectation naturally rises. Such expectation can be justified with the fact that this kind of song is uncommon in Arctic Monkeys’ repertoire and there’s consequently a great deal of curiosity to see if the remaining tracks on the album go this way or another. However, most of the expectation lies in those four and a half minutes; in the way the band drives it sonically and in the always uncertain shifts of Alex Turner’s narrative. A well accomplished symbiosis, then.
A similar atmosphere returns when third track, “ One For The Road”, is reached. There is definitely a mysterious feel on it, although this one sounds heavier than the album opener. In this song, one of the most crucial musical elements on AM, the secondary voices made by the remaining band members, emerges for the first time . It is not a particular novelty in their sound, but that proves the band and James Ford’s ( their producer since Favourite Worst Nightmare ) cleverness in picking up elements which the listener comes to associate with their musical identity and bringing them up to a all different level. Followed by “Arabella”, clearly one of best songs on it, and “I Want All”, a tune that could slip easily to both Suck It And See and Humbug, the album reaches its climax before a subtle shift, where the band aims at other musical directions.
In “No.1 Party Anthem”, piano chords and a slide guitar set the scene for the laziness of hangovers. This is by far the less relevant song in the whole album. Its slow tempo is extended by “ Mad Sounds”, clearly the most americanish folky tune the band has done to date. One would expect that guitar melody, adorned by an organ, in a Bob Dylan or Neil Young’s song and, at first, it is completely unimaginable hearing it in a middle of an Arctic Monkeys’ album. Nevertheless, it works incredibly well. The keys of the organ continue to be pressed in “Fireside”, an upbeat tune driven by one of the many irreproachable bass lines crafted by Nick O’Malley. Also, both those vocoder filtered voices that go along with the chorus and that stunning guitar solo, just before the electronic clavier à la The Doors breaks through, make it quite worthwhile.
Piano chords are heard again in “Snap It Out”, the kind of tune Paul McCartney would come up with if he’d still do pretty good songs. “Knee Socks” is the following track, bringing in one of the highest moments of their suprising vocal approach , with the band members singing a wonderful a capella, which will make you think of Justin Timberlake. However, on the whole it sounds closer to Bowie’s astonishing songs emphasized on playful and irresistible vocals.
The album closes with “I Wanna Be Yours”, which works much better than the remaining slow tempo songs. Also, it reminds us of the incredible balladeer that Turner can be, the one that recorded tunes for Submarine. Near the end of the song, a crescendo of intertwined voices is heard just like in the album opener, which might easily prompt the listener to rehear it all again as the song fades in the last seconds.
With the album as a whole in mind, it is right to conclude that there’s definitely a case for AM. This is by far the best album they’ve released since their debut and perhaps, in a few years, we’ll placing it in the shelf, in between Pulp’s Different Class and our favourite The Beatles’ album.
