ARCTIC MONKEYS

The Car (Domino)

The long-awaited new release from indie legends Arctic Monkeys explores new ways of music making: with a significantly slower and bluesier sound to their previous releases, The Car is a great listen. Alex Turner’s vocals reach new heights with these tracks; his higher register is performed extensively, and very effectively.

It’s a very relaxing album, too, each song having a laidback feel to it; combining their bread-and-butter indie instrumentation with some orchestral elements, the Arctics seem to be expanding their repertoire – which will be well received in some quarters, met with criticism elsewhere, you suspect. A setback of The Car is that the tracks all seem to blend together with little variety, even if this allows the group to showcase their new sound in style.

Fans of Arctic Monkeys will be pleased to hear this new release, even if they could have provided a bit more variety in its content.

words RHIANNON FARR