It’s been 17 years since Arctic Monkeys’ seminal debut LP Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not exploded out of Sheffield and changed the UK music scene forever. With each record since, we have seen Alex Turner & Co. evolve their sound, building on their successes with a chameleon-like quality. Branching out into new soundscapes but still retaining everything that makes them the Arctic Monkeys we all know and love from High Green.
Now, Arctic Monkeys take their next leap forward, with upcoming 7th studio album, The Car. Hot on the heels of one of the busiest headline slots in Reading & Leeds festival history, the band have released the much-anticipated lead single from the album, There’d Better Be A Mirrorball and we can hardly contain our excitement. Not only the lead single, but also the opening track for the upcoming album, what better place to start?
The single opens with what feels like an interlude to a lost interlude to a Sean Connery or Roger Moore-era James Bond theme tune. Every inch of There’d Better Be A Mirrorball is steeped in nostalgia and longing for a time passed. With a ponderous piano melody, layered strings, and a subdued drum track, it immediately feels like a new era for Arctic Monkeys. This instrumental then fades and gives way to a stabbing piano sound that also wouldn’t feel out of place on the silver screen. Then the meat of the track begins.
On There’d Better Be A Mirrorball, we find Alex Turner once again demonstrating his storytelling peak, crooning over a beautifully lush melody. Closer in feel to 2018s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, here we see the frontman weaving through his latest tale with heartache and world-weariness. We were told in the album’s announcement that The Car “contains some of the richest and most rewarding vocal performances of Alex Turner’s career” and this fact is more than proven with this single. Turner is equal parts uplifting and heart-breaking in his delivery and while his lyricism and storytelling is still as deep as it was back in 2005, the experiences it draws from, and its delivery is such a stark contrast.
Jamie, Matt, and Nick more than do their part here though as well. The drums on this are a far cry from the franticness of say a Brianstorm but they’re no less impressive and intricate. Jamie and Nick contribute to the 70s sound and aesthetic of the track with brilliant turns on bass, piano and strings. The music video, directed by Turner, only furthers this aesthetic.
Every aspect of this single feels timeless already. It is so beautifully full to the brim of the quality you’ve come to expect from the best band of the century so far. There’d Better Be A Mirrorball feels like a journey and a destination all in one, like a train ride through the countryside. It’s impossible to describe and properly do it justice.
There’d Better Be A Mirrorball is available to stream everywhere now and Arctic Monkeys’ new album, The Car, is released 21st October.
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