It was inevitable that
Alex Turner would incorporate the loungey swagger of his busman's holiday
the Last Shadow Puppets into his main gig of
the Arctic Monkeys, yet the soft louche touch of
Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino comes as something of a shock. Chalk it up, perhaps, to the fact that
Turner was a mere 32 years old when he unleashed
Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino onto the world, a young age that seems older because
Arctic Monkeys released their debut when he was just 19. Throughout
Tranquility Base,
Turner comes across as if he were much, much older than his actual age, cocking an eyebrow to a potential paramour who has the audacity to have never seen Blade Runner, and reminiscing about the '70s -- a decade he never saw. He may have been born at the height of
Brothers in Arms, but
Turner fetishes the swinging sci-fi '60s, winking at futurism while acknowledging that its starry potential has curdled in the digital age.
Tranquility Base hints at these dashed dreams in its stylish soft contours, which are neither retro nor modern: they're hung suspended between these two extremes, sounding precisely like
Alex Turner while never touching upon the frenzied, heavy roar of
the Monkeys. Perhaps it's easy to miss that youthful punchiness, but the expansive aural horizons of
Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino suggest there are plenty of avenues for
Turner to steer
Arctic Monkeys into a fruitful middle age. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine