Arctic Monkeys – The Car [Vinyl LP]

Arctic Monkeys – The Car [Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Stereo
• Catalogue Number: WIGLP455
• Barcode: 887828045518
• Genre: Indie Rock / Art Rock / Chamber Pop
• Label: Domino Recording Co.
• Released: 21 October 2022
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

The Car is the seventh studio album by Arctic Monkeys — Alex Turner (vocals, guitar), Jamie Cook (guitar), Nick O'Malley (bass) and Matt Helders (drums) — released on 21 October 2022 on Domino Recording Co. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with 53,697 chart units in its first week — their seventh consecutive number one album, making them only the third act in UK chart history to achieve seven consecutive number ones after Elvis Presley and Madonna. It was the bestselling album on vinyl in the UK in 2022, the biggest vinyl week of the year at the time of release, and simultaneously topped the UK Vinyl Albums Chart and the Record Store Chart in its first week of release.

Produced by James Ford — the Simian Mobile Disco drummer who has produced every Arctic Monkeys album since Humbug (2009), and who simultaneously produced the Monkeys' touring bandmates' records — and recorded across three locations: Butley Priory in Suffolk (where the band had previously recorded Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino), La Frette Studios in Paris, and RAK Studios in London. The album continues and deepens the orchestral, cinematic direction of Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino (2018), drawing on 1960s film scores, baroque pop, lounge jazz and chamber orchestration while retaining the wry, image-dense lyricism that has defined Turner's writing across all seven records. It is a record of considerable compositional ambition: the arrangements — featuring strings, woodwind and brass arranged to give the band's sound genuine orchestral depth — were developed by Ford and Turner with the same care and precision usually associated with classical rather than rock production.

The four singles released ahead of the album are among the finest of their career. "There'd Better Be a Mirrorball" — released in September 2022 as the lead single, reaching number four in the UK — is an unhurried, piano-driven ballad of aching romantic uncertainty, accompanied by a Nick Uff-directed video; "I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am" is the album's most rhythmically propulsive track, a tightly wound piece of cinematic pop that recalls their earlier more guitar-based work while remaining unmistakably of the current period; "Body Paint" is a slow-burning seven-minute suite that closes the album's first side on a note of epic restraint; and "Sculptures of Anything Goes" demonstrates the album's command of melodic understatement. The album's interior tracks — the title track "The Car" itself, "Big Ideas", "Hello You", "Mr Schwartz" and the closing "Perfect Sense" — reward patient, attentive listening in ways that their more immediately accessible earlier work rarely required.

This pressing on black vinyl is housed in a single sleeve with spot gloss finish on the cover image, with a printed inner sleeve reproducing lyrics and credits, and includes a digital download code. Made in the EU.

Tracklist

Side A

1. There'd Better Be a Mirrorball
2. I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am
3. Sculptures of Anything Goes
4. Jet Skis on the Moat
5. Body Paint

Side B

1. The Car
2. Big Ideas
3. Hello You
4. Mr Schwartz
5. Perfect Sense

Credits

• Alex Turner – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
• Jamie Cook – Guitar
• Nick O'Malley – Bass
• Matt Helders – Drums
• James Ford – Producer, Engineer
• Label – Domino Recording Co.