Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare

Punky primates evolve into angry young men

It’s crap at the top of the world, it seems. Nothing but cold bleakness and the sudden realisation that you’re on your own. Rather than wallow or buckle under the pressure of expectation though, the Monkeys have ramped up their trademark aggression and energy even higher. There’s little let up in their second album’s 37 minutes. First single Brianstorm, with its metallically fast drums, makes their debut sound lethargic. Klaxons producers James Ford and Mike Crossey bring a richer, bass-led sound, laden with hectic, splashy drums. While the patented Monkeys formula of frantic threenote riffs and funky basslines is already racing towards expiry date, there are attempts to branch out: Only Ones Who Know experiments (not that successfully) with a jazzy torch song, while This House Is A Circus employs dubby guitar effects and duelling guitars before careering into an assault and battery of a finale.

Lyrically, it’s tense and tetchy, with Alex Turner’s reet northern fly-on-the-wall schtick giving way to fretful reflections on failing relationships, homesickness and fatal fame. With their oldest members aged only 21, Arctic Monkeys would have done well just to weather the fevered fauxorganic hype that surrounded their debut album. That they’ve come out fighting suggests that not all of it was undeserved.

Domino | WIGCD 188

Reviewed by Emily Mackay
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