Album Review: Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base: Hotel + Casino Is A Place To Stay
Arctic Monkeys’s Tranquility Base: Hotel + Casino is like a day trip to the moon. It lands in an all-inclusive resort, where lead singer Alex Turner is the head-lining entertainment. Yet, there is a twist to this inter-galactic tale because Turner is also the server, the tourist, the owner, and concierge of this Tranquility Base. He is a bit of everything in discovering how he is something.
Thoughts fire around Tranquility Base like they are either in a Civil War or a yoga class, which makes sense as it feels like Arctic Monkeys’ most self-observant album. Songs such as, “Star Treatment”, “Four Out of Five”, and “Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino” feel smoothened in melodies and lyrically seeking of mindfulness. More than their previous albums, their lyrics and arrangements feel brighter in depth. It is as if Turner has transformed into a cosmic mirror; to look in is to see how you are a “star”.
Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
From “American Sports” to “Batphone”, the clash between “ego” or “grandeur” versus “universality” or “spirituality” come to Tranquility Base’s thematic forefront. Hence, it is brilliant that they have a “space luxury hotel” vibe in their songs. Tracks like, “Golden Trunks”, “Science Fiction”, and “One Point Perspective”, definitely, sound like you could grab a Pina Colada in one Saturn’s Rings. They are spacey, light, and soothing all at once, which are things you would expect from a “splendid vacation”. Yet, listen close, and you will hear verses how “fame” and “power” is Arctic Monkeys’ space odyssey, and such things can leave you gasping for an oxygen tank.
Happiness is a spiritual virtue, but, in this world, it is tethered to material definitions. Who has not thought; once I get money, I will be happy? Yet, Arctic Monkeys know the answer to the questions that remains unanswerable to most of us. They have seen the “glam” of money and face can make you feel pushed out of earth, but not, necessarily, into Heaven’s arms. Still, sonically, Tranquility Base thrives because Arctic Monkeys turn the dial to slower, more salient chords, synths, and vast strings like “Ultracheese”. Moreover, Turner’s voice continues to zip and beam like the force of nature it has always been. For More Information On Arctic Monkeys And To Buy Tranquility Base Hotel + Case on May 11 Click Here.
