Alex Turner

The Arctic Monkeys frontman on big rock guitars, evolving as a band, and revving up for their latest album, The Car

- By Brian Hiatt

From the moment the world heard the frantic majesty of Arctic Monkeys’ classic debut, 2006’s Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, it was obvious the foursome were headed for rock greatness. But great bands have always reserved the right to swerve into detours that baffle some fans while perhaps making new ones — and Arctic Monkeys are no exception. Their commercial and creative high point, the groove-rock stomper AM, was one of the last albums by a rock band to truly shake the culture. They followed it with five years of silence. Then, in 2018, came the gorgeous but defiantly odd space-lounge concept album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino. With their lush new follow-up, The Car, they’re still a lot more interested in sculpting hi-fi soundscapes than blasting your face off, with rich strings and Steely Dan-level studio gloss applied to mostly slow-burning songs, albeit with a bit more rock muscle this time. “I don’t think it sounds like a different band, but I can imagine that’s something that can get thrown around,” says frontman Alex Turner. “I think what makes it sound like the same band is that we’re not betraying our instinct to challenge our idea of what the band can be.”

Did you, on any level, feel burned out on big rock after making AM?

It’s definitely a rock record, that