Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is the 6th album by Sheffield rockers, Arctic Monkeys. I say rockers, but after listening to this album, you may change your opinion! The band chose a different stragegy in terms of marketing on the lead up to releasing this album. In that they released no singles and I do not know if they plan to. Before this came out I was questioning this strategy as to whether its a good thing or a bad thing. Are they just wanting people to listen to the album as a whole and everything is fresh on first listen? Or was their no real stand out singles to release. Well it was the second option but a whole lot more.....
When they annonced the name of the album, I really did think "Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino was a terrible name for an album. But as soon as I listened to the first few songs on the album, I got it. It is the perfect name for this album. Now was this a good thing? Well for my liking no. This album is a complete change in direction for the Arctic Monkeys and they have taken a big risk. I have to admit whether I love or hate the direction bands go with their music. I always commend bands who take risks and push their own boundaries and go outwith their comfort zone.
This is the type of music you would hear sitting in a fancy restaurant on a romantic date and they have a smooth jazz band or a guy playing a piano in the corner. In that situation I would probably saying things to my date like "How good is this band?!" or "This band is on fire!" Its good music for that situation. Maybe the type of bands that are likely to play these restuarants won't have songs called "The worlds first monster truck front flip". But it is good background music for that setting. But the thing is I don't live like that and I can't imagine I ever will. I can't imagine listening to this music anywhere else apart from if I was in that situation. It's just not my cup of tea at all.
I am interested to see what will happen to their fan base as this is a complete game changer going into new territories. You will get some people who are into both jazzy type music like on this album and their older, rockier stuff. But generally I find that the two are so far apart musically you don’t normally get too people who are into both. Will they lose fans. Will they gain new fans? Another way current monkeys fans would be into this is the lyrics. I haven’t looked too far into them but I do think if you are solely into the Arctic monkeys for their lyrics which some people might be. You might just like this if that is your focus.
Their live shows may even be impacted due to the sheer shift in direction. I was quite up for seeing them but now I wouldn’t go near a gig. I could see longtime fans even booing their new stuff and shouting for them to play their own stuff. It will also be interesting to see if jazz fans like this album and are drawn to the gigs. I know they’ll be playing songs off this album on their next tour but you do wonder how many songs will stay in the set when and if they make future albums. And I would also ask the question if they are going to go back to rock or keep going in this direction. I will be paying attention either way but if their going down the jazzy route again I don’t think it will hold my attention for that long.
I think the main problem I have with this album is I just don’t like that sort of music. I did buy this album having not read any reviews or hearing anything prior. This has made me think again before buying albums based on a band’s previous albums especially if they haven't dropped any singles before the album comes out.
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