Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino Review

The Arctic Monkeys released their sixth studio album earlier this month, after a five-year hiatus. In truth, no two Arctic Monkeys albums are alike–the band’s discography has a unique, but not an entirely consistent sound. That being said, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is definitely the band’s boldest effort so far, deviating from the harder, more psychedelic rock sound of the critically acclaimed AM. However, this comparison does not mean that Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino does not deserve its own acclaim.

The end result of Alex Turner overcoming his writer’s block, this album is unique in that Turner used a piano to compose it, rather than his usual guitar, which explains the softer sound of the album. The piano is a welcomed change if this is the quality of music that this process creates.

I am not going to claim that the album is not lyrical–Alex Turner’s suave voice can make ordering at McDonald’s sound lyrical–but the tracks of this album oddly sound like they could be a series of narrative poems if one were to remove the instrumentals and simply read the lyrics aloud, something that cannot easily be said about other albums by the band. However, this extensive lyric composition is one of Bowie’s clear influences on Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino.

The album opens with the elaborate “Star Treatment.” The lyrics of this song are probably the most dense out of all of the tracks on the album, but not the darkest. Following this rich introduction is a series of shorter, but equally potent songs. Before the actual song titled “Science Fiction” appears, the science-fiction element of the album is intensified in “One Point Perspective,” which leads into “American Sports.”

The eponymous track is arguably the most beautiful on the album, despite its cynical lyrics. The song satirically criticizes social media, with lyrics such as “Technological advances really bloody get me in the mood,” and makes direct reference to a “Mark,” suggesting that Turner is using Mark Zuckerberg to represent attack the entire social media industry. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Turner confirmed that the title, “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino” was influenced by the site of the first lunar landing, but leaves it up to the listener to determine what kind of story can be found in the lyrics. At the halfway point, “Four Stars Out of Five” sounds like a track that could have been found on AM five years ago.

The Beatlesque “She Looks Like Fun” features the perfect marriage of Turner’s voice and the group’s instrumentals on the whole album. No matter how you felt about the album or what your experience was like listening to it, the closing track, “The Ultracheese,” leaves you intrigued more.

Finally, in a political climate such as the one we are seeing in 2018, the Arctic Monkeys did not choose to opt out of the discussion. “American Sports” contains the lyrics, “Breaking news, they take the truth and make it fluid,” making reference to the phenomenon of “fake news” that Republicans have claimed as their own. “Golden Trunks” is a direct jab at President Donald Trump: “The leader of the free world reminds you of a wrestler wearing tight golden trunks” (Turner’s just reminding of us what we’re already thinking).

In all, I will not give Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino the distinction of being better than, or even as great as its predecessor, nor does it surpass the band’s early albums, but it does accurately represent exactly where the Arctic Monkeys should be artistically at this point in their career. This album remains loyal to its concept throughout and is definitely a creative addition to their discography.