Arctic Monkeys do not seem content with what they have accomplished so far. With "Humbug" (2009), they attempt to develop a new sound for the band. However, they fall into a common trap: confusing maturation with being boring and depressing.
Arctic Monkeys' debut outing, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" (2006), broke records, becoming the U.K.'s fastest-selling debut album of all time. In the States, the Monkeys became an "it band" for mainstream rock critics due to their refreshingly stripped-down, post-Brit pop, garage rock mentality. Frontman Alex Turner's unpolished, conversational sound and working class British accent dominated sparse, energetic rock arrangements. The debut, which featured the tracks "I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor" and the excellent "When The Sun Goes Down" is punctuated with wry humor and unpretentious vigor. To mixed reviews, the band's follow-up, "Favourite Worst Nightmare" (2007), brought more of the same.
In the band's latest release, the cheerful guitar riffs and athletic bass lines of the first two albums have been replaced with distorted minor chords that wouldn't sound out of place on a late 90's alt-rock record. The album features fuzzy bass lines and busy, sinister drums.
This aesthetic has mixed results. It works on the lead single, "Crying Lightning," which builds slowly and menacingly, never quite exploding the way one expects. Turner's voice, not as raw as it used to be, leaps and dips through the juicy lyrics. The Monkeys' verbal play is as present on "Humbug" as on any of their previous albums.
Tracks like "Dangerous Animals" and "Potion Approaching," in contrast, do not achieve the same level of success. Instead, they revolve around riffs that sound as if they were cribbed from the last decade of mediocre hard rock. "Whatever People Say I Am" was full of gymnastic orchestration for guitar and bass, but on "Humbug," the musicians limit themselves to only a few notes.
At times, "Humbug" takes on a nearly gothic tone. On "Pretty Visitors," the band uses an organ to amplify the song's deep, ominous central riff. The lyrics describe apprehension and danger in abstract terms: "All the pretty visitors came and waved their arms and cast the shadow of a snake pit on the wall." It could be the score for a dystopian horror film except that it only circles, vulture-like, around a violent climax that it never reaches.
In addition to mid-tempo, sinister rockers, "Humbug" is peppered with plaintive ballads that are experiments gone awry. "Secret Door" features a pounding bass line similar to the tracks that bookend it, but the chorus has Turner singing a longing melody on top of swooning harmonies and sweet, echoing guitars.
"Cornerstone" is a Britpop influenced serenade from a misguided man looking to replace his lover with someone who looks like her and who agrees to respond to her name. Unlike "Secret Door," the song works because Turner and company adhere to one style throughout the song. The Monkeys are at their best when telling urban fairy tales and bedtime stories, with or without happy endings. "Cornerstone" is the closest they come to that type of song.
The Monkeys' first two efforts hearkened back to a time before the Gallagher brothers transformed British modern rock, where music streamed out of London garages, complete with rough edges and thoughtful storytelling. Now, "Humbug" sounds old-fashioned in all the wrong ways. There's a reason that 90's alt-rock has gone the way of disco, and one wonders why Arctic Monkeys thought it was worth reviving.
Where the city of Arctic Monkeys' tales used to be charming in its shaggy decrepitude, it now sounds like a monotonous place that no one should visit alone at night.
