It was inevitable that
Alex Turner
would incorporate the loungey swagger of his busman's holiday
the Last Shadow Puppets
into his main gig of
the Arctic Monkeys
, yet the soft louche touch of
Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino
comes as something of a shock. Chalk it up, perhaps, to the fact that
Turner
was a mere 32 years old when he unleashed
onto the world, a young age that seems older because
Arctic Monkeys
released their debut when he was just 19. Throughout
Tranquility Base
,
comes across as if he were much, much older than his actual age, cocking an eyebrow to a potential paramour who has the audacity to have never seen Blade Runner, and reminiscing about the '70s -- a decade he never saw. He may have been born at the height of
Brothers in Arms
, but
fetishes the swinging sci-fi '60s, winking at futurism while acknowledging that its starry potential has curdled in the digital age.
hints at these dashed dreams in its stylish soft contours, which are neither retro nor modern: they're hung suspended between these two extremes, sounding precisely like
while never touching upon the frenzied, heavy roar of
the Monkeys
. Perhaps it's easy to miss that youthful punchiness, but the expansive aural horizons of
suggest there are plenty of avenues for
to steer
into a fruitful middle age. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine