The Arctic Monkeys have announced their seventh album, The Car, slated for release on October 21 via Domino Records.
Written by Alex Turner, produced by long-time collaborator James Ford, and recorded in the UK and France, the 10-track album has been a long time in the making. As yet, no official singles have been released.
The Car is set to contain some of the richest and most rewarding vocal performances of Alex Turner’s career. An official release teases that Arctic Monkeys will be “running wild in a new and sumptuous musical landscape.”
The frontman has revealed that the music in the upcoming album will feel familiar, as the band has kept it aligned with their jazzier, intergalactic stylings of Tranquillity.
Fresh off the Zurich Openair Festival, where a lucky few got to hear I Aint Where I think I Am from their forthcoming album, frontman Alex Turner sat down for an exclusive interview with The Big Issue with superfan, Martin Compston.
Turner reflected on the past 20 years, recalling how it has shaped him as a musician: “It probably does feel about 20 years ago. But that’s an interesting one, isn’t it? Because sometimes you feel like you could walk through a door and be right back there.”
Of the new album, he says, “I’m trying to scratch a little bit of that feeling here on the new record. It feels like a long time ago, but it can be right behind you. Something reminds you and it takes you back. There’s a lyric on ‘Hello You’ that says, ‘I could pass for 17 if I just get a shave and catch some zzzz’s.’ Maybe that’s barking up that tree a little. Well, a lot. I’m thinking about going to the snooker club with my granddad and it feels like we were just there. But, wait a minute, there’s all this time in between.”
Reflecting on the Arctic Monkeys’ meteoric rise to fame, Turner says, “At the time it happened very quickly and was a shock to the system. We topped the charts for the first time and everything became quite different very quickly. But there was always a feeling that this could be over in a few months. The bottom is gonna fall out any minute. I’m thinking about you mentioning The View From the Afternoon. We’ve been playing [it] in these last few shows – when I’m doing that, it feels like it would take more than a shave and a sleep to feel 17!”
The Car is slated for release on October 21st via Domino Records. You can pre-order the album here. Check out the full tracklist below.
