Oh, humbug

At a party where my friends have left me for more beer, I am sitting next to Alex Turner* beneath the guise of raucous music and cigarette smoke. His deep, dark secrets of spurned lovers and dismay are whispered into my ears and I crane my neck to hear him correctly. Did he just asked, "What came first, the chicken or the dickhead?"

Yes. Yes, he did. Humbug is the Arctic Monkey's latest release and each song is crafted like a well-versed spat of contempt. Turner's disdain for posers and hipsters resurface on "Secret Door" as he croons in his lounge lizard voice of those silly "fools on parade." It must be residue from his side project The Last Shadow Puppets, because we are faced (or is it eared?) with his voice dropping to a smooth sneer while the drums and bass trample our heartstrings. On their previous records, Turner was a fresh-faced punk ready to slap you in the eardrums with his witty lyricism, but Turner of 2009 is a city weary man who has the lost The One. From "Dance Little Liar" to searching for her beneath every "Cornerstone" to the strange desire of "Fire and the Thud," Turner is a downtrodden lyricist rejected by rose-tinted romance. No wonder the album's titled Humbug.

"Crying Lightning" is their first single and the video takes an odd Poseidon twist but who cares, just listen to that intro bass line.


*said party never happened but let's pretend it did for poetic license