Arctic Monkeys by Morgan Catanzaro

My Propeller

The British alt-rock band Arctic Monkeys have finally released their third album since 2007, titled Humbug, in July of 2009.  The first single of off the album, Crying Lightning, debuted at number 12 on the UK singles Chart; far better than the bands last album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, which had two singles debut in the Top 74 respectively, although all twelve songs from that album landed on the Top 200 Charts.

Humbug takes on a new sound entirely, especially compared to Favourite Worst Nightmare, which was more of a fast-pace record. Humbug demonstrates a slower, almost soulful sound that is Brit-Indie Rock in its entirety.  Arctic Monkeys have already been celebrated as an extremely accomplished and talented group, even though they have only created three full albums and one EP, and have already taken on a risk in their second album by changing around their “sound,” it’s really no wonder that the band would go in such a different direction. And it’s that re-invention and success that got them many compliments (such as being considered equivalent or even better than Oasis and The Strokes by the UK media) and almost as much criticism. There is no doubt, however, that this album will get the band many award nominations and chart hits.

I was pretty disappointed in the music video for their second single, My Propeller. It did live up to their new Indie-Rock sound, but it was extremely boring to watch. The whole video consists of two-toned colors of cream and a dark teal, so the band members were not extremely distinguishable unless you know what instrument they play. The other half of the video, the parts that were not of the band members, are just random things like a girls eyes, lips, random hands, an eagle, etc., but all in that same boring, two-tone color. I wouldn’t recommend wasting time watching the video, but the album itself is definitely worth listening to.