Arctic Monkeys released their sixth album, “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino,” on May 11, 2018.  The band has received polarized reviews on the album’s aesthetic and I’d like to set the record straight—it is nothing short of a work of art dripping in white gold.

Many have said the lyrics and overall sound of the album is a bit of a shock; however, I think those fair-weathered fans have been limiting their ears to the likes of the band’s previous album “AM.” Most of them joined the fandom when Alex Turner was sporting a leather jacket, greasy slicked back hair and pumping out edgy pop-rock tunes like “R U Mine?” This album focuses on his offbeat and introverted approach to writing that has been present in his other work such as,“The Last Shadow Puppets,” or the solo soundtrack he wrote for the movie “Submarine” in 2010.

I believe the new album is the perfect heir to the previous album, as it is the early morning counterpart to the late night brooding guitar riffs of “AM.”

Within the first seven seconds of the first track on “Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino,” called “Star Treatment,” the piano driven elevator music makes you feel like the year is 1970 and you are sitting in a lounge at 11 a.m. drifting off in clouds of smoke. The song starts off with Turner describing himself fumbling into rock n’ roll as a kid who just wanted to be as cool as a member of his favorite band, paying no mind to originality or artistic vision. “I just wanted to be one of The Strokes/ Now look at the mess you made me make/ Hitchhiking with a monogrammed suitcase/ Miles away from any half-useful imaginary highway.” Turner also strung together some unconventional and witty lingo in the chorus, “So who you gonna call?/The martini police?” The lyric is so simple that it makes you wonder why you’ve never heard it before— a signature trademark in his song writing.

“One Point Perspective” and “American Sports” are both songs rejecting the new age. They sympathize with feeling exhausted by the state of the world, as it is being ruled by money and technology. The chorus of “American Sports” is a cry for help that is humorously laced with irony, “Can I please have my money back?/ My virtual reality mask is stuck on ‘Parliament Brawl.’”

The title track, marked explicit for the lyric “kiss me underneath the moon’s sideboob,” is so perfectly facetious. I love that this song tells a story, but with all of the figurative spins on language you kind of have to use your imagination to figure it out. This song writing tactic is also used in the song, “Four out of Five.” Turner has a way of making you feel like the stories he sings about take place in a different world.

My favorite song by far off the new record is moody slow jam, “The Ultracheese”. Not only is it a lyrical masterpiece, it hits you right where it hurt with lines like, “ I’ve still got pictures of friends on the wall/ I might look as if I’m deep in thought/
But the truth is I’m probably not.”

I give this album a perfect score, mainly owing to the fact that it was kept under wraps, and was not nearly as commercial as the previous album. It may have taken them five years to create this album, but it was the perfect amount of time for their overall sound to age like a fine wine.

Rating: 5/5 stars