Album Review: “AM” By: Arctic Monkeys

“AM” By: Arctic Monkeys is an amazing album filled with a perfect mix of upbeat and slow songs that will put a smile on any face. Lead singer Alex Turner was sixteen when he formed Arctic Monkey. Surprisingly he only learned to play guitar a year before he formed Arctic Monkeys. The garage rock revolution in the early 2000s really inspired Alex and made him fall in love with indie music. He signed with Domino Recording Company in 2002.
On September 9, 2013 Alex released “AM.” “AM” was the fifth album he released in his discography. The lyrics in this album are about infatuation and frustration. Track one “ Do I Wanna Know” is played in the key g minor and has a vocal range from DA-A5. The song starts off in a lower more mellow tone then gradually picks up by the bridge of the song. This song fuses simplistic, complex, and clever elements into one song. “ Do I Wanna Know” is one of the biggest hits off of “AM” and reached number 70 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Do I Wanna Know” was also the number one greatest hit Arctic Monkeys has ever released.
Track two on the set list is also one of the greatest hits on the album. “ R U Mine” also was one of Arctic Monkeys greatest hits ever. This song has an intro that can stand the test of time. “ R U Mine” is written in the chord F# Minor. This song is written in a minor scale consisting of F#, G#, A, B, C#, D, and E. The intro to “ R U Mine” will startle anyone no matter how many times you’ve listened to it. The lyrics to this song are extraordinary. The main message of this song is about an uncertain relationship. The lyrics to this song convey that message perfectly. For example when he says “ She’s a silver linin’, lone ranger ridin’ through an open space. In my mind when, when she’s not right there beside me.” Another amazing line is “ Are you mine tomorrow. Or just mine tonight.” These lyrics are perfect for a song about uncertain relationships. Music Magazine “NME” ranked this song number 49 out of 100 for one of the greatest rock songs in the 2010’s. This song was ranked 22 under the US Hot Rock Billboard Hot 100.
“AM” is an amazing album and conveys the message of frustration in an unsure relationship. This album is totally different from anything Arctic Monkeys has ever put out. Their albums consist of more hard core rock songs but this album is totally different in a sense that instead of harsh rock they focused on more mellow acoustics in this album and is very different from anything they have ever put out before. Hopefully Alex can put out more albums like this where he takes a different approach to his music.