Around Christmas, it was pieced together by eager eyed fans that the lads from Sheffield had reunited for a solid studio session. Fast forward a month or so, and the breadcrumbs of clues have now graduated to a whole damn loaf. Thereโs no denying it. The Arctic Monkeys are preparing for a full-scale assault, and weโre all desperately awaiting their return.
The past few days has seen a string of festival confirmations. Headlining for such heavy hitting events like Primavera and NOS Alive has since been locked down. Itโs worth noting that there has been a suspicious Splendour in the Grass shaped gap left in their schedule. Last night, the bandโs Facebook profile images was changed to this:
If it looks like a frosty primate. And smells like a frosty primate. It probably means that weโre getting some new music soon. The four-piece rock group has been hiatus since 2014, shortly after headlining Reading festival.
โThis is the perfect place to leave things for a while,โ said frontman, Alex Turner, to NME. Turner would then go on to pursue his own solo projects in the Mini Mansions, Alexandra Savior, and of course, The Last Shadow Puppets. Having released a sophomore album under the latter, in collaboration with The Rascalโs Miles Kane in 2016.
AM, the last release from 2013, was a monster hit. It gained cultural ubiquity with lead tracks such asโDo I Wanna Know?โ, โR U Mine?โ, and โWhyโd You Only Call Me When Youโre High?โ (a lot of good questions). Every preceding album before that has irrevocably changed the landscape of music. One could say the excitement is palpable, but one would also be wildly understating the nature of the situation.
