Arctic Monkeys - Suck ItAnd See

Mon 30th May, 2011 in Music Reviews

Alex Turner sneered on the opening track of the Arctic Monkeys debut album “anticipation has habit to set you up”, fortunately for fans of High Green’s finest, the disappointment is not forthcoming on their latest release, Suck It And See. Having won over legions of fans with their pseudo-concept debut about the tales of a night out in England ( Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not ), and then maturing that sound in their second album Favourite Worst Nightmare, the band hit a slight snag in 2009’s Humbug.

Humbug showed the band swapping their trademark British snarl for a more Americanised take on indie rock, mostly thanks to the influence of album producer, and Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme. While the album was lauded as a positive step it was felt in many circles that it was a weaker effort and lacked the English charm its predecessors had. In Suck it And See we have album that finds the correct balance between British veneer and American grunt, with excellent results.

She’s Thunderstorms is not the traditional, fully charged, kind of opener we’ve come to expect from the Arctic Monkeys, as its creeping rift peers into a sombre start. It’s a beautifully rolling track, and certainly sticks to the promises in pre-album interviews where the band had stated this to be “a more poppy than Humbug ”.

Brick by Brick is of the more American flavour, a track where you can really tell that the band recorded the album in sunny California. Its by-the-beach styled rhythm complete with the sunny psyched rifts of Jamie Cook is an unusual one for the Monkeys, which sees drummer Matt Helders take lead vocals. To be fair his voice has gotten much better since the puberty-ravaged boy that performed backing vocals in their signature track I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor. While its pleasant on the ears, the song itself is let down by its sub-par, elementary lyrics. It seems they put as much effort into the writing of this song, as they did into picking an album cover.

If that was one of their weaker lyrical moments, The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala, is one of their strongest. With lines as crisp as “ makes me wanna blow the candles out, just to see if you glow in the dark” crooned by frontman Alex Turner, it’s probably one of their best tracks to date. A Fleetwood Mac-like, romanticized melody is complemented well by sparse bursts of off-key guitar, while the bass line of Nick O’Malley thuds the song along, building momentum until Turners glorious gloat of “whatcha waiting for, sing another fooking shalalala”.

The thing about Suck It and See compared to Humbug, is that it’s more instantly accessible, where as Humbug requires multiple listens to grasp its qualities. Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair, a prime example, not a classic Arctic Monkeys sound by any stretch, its essentially heavy rock, but the lyrics have been crafted cheekily with the dark humour of the band we have seen on many occasions, making it more identifiable for fans of earlier material.

Library Pictures is a grown up take on the sounds of Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, its frantic drum opener kicking into a guitar and bass combination which sounds like the swarming of bees, in a good way of course. It strikes into that heavy garage sound we know them for, before having a very cool break down mid-song. A chaotic swirl of instruments follows, before Turner spits out the kind of rubbish lyric that we love him for, “give me an eenie, meenie miney mo, or an ip dip dogshit rock and roll”. Brilliant or bollocks? You tell me.

Fans of Humbug will be eagerly anticipating the track All My Own Stunts as it features backing vocals from Josh Homme. The track doesn’t disappoint, it certainly has that Homme stamp of approval on it, and is an improvement on the sound Humbug was trying to convey (an Englishman’s guide to Queens of The Stone Age). I feel I should warn you not to expect some sort of rapper in a pop song type appearance on this track though, his backing vocals mostly ghost-like in existence.

The Here Comes Your Man -styled Reckless Serenade and full band version of Piledriver Waltz (originally appeared as an acoustic track in Alex Turner’s Submarine EP) continue the bands run of whispering sweet nothings into our ears, via Alex Turner. A man who seems to produce lyrics so wonderfully obscure they kind of belong in a Noel Fielding comedy routine.

“You’re rarer than a can of dandelion and burdock, and those other girls are just post-mix lemonade” muses Turner in title track Suck it and See, as the album is beginning to wind down. Another radiant track about being a fool in love, which seems to be the bands new niche, and a highly enticing one at that. That’s Where You’re Wrong brings the album to a fine end, its bass heavy rhythm followed by fleeting drums lay it simple on a sonic level, but like all closers on an Arctic Monkeys album it’s a sweeping epic.