The Arctic Monkeys have a new album coming out: The Car will be released on October 21.
In an unimaginative announcement on Twitter, the Arctic Monkeys shared their new cover art and said: “The new album from Arctic Monkeys, ‘The Car’ is out 21st October.”
The new album from Arctic Monkeys, ‘The Car’ is out 21st October. Pre-order now https://t.co/QWACEVpsAr pic.twitter.com/rImMFpEL0b
— Arctic Monkeys (@ArcticMonkeys) August 24, 2022
This was, however, enough to get fans going. “FINALLY we’ve been waiting!!” Tweeted one happy camper.
“I am NOT apologizing for the person i’d become when The Car by Arctic Monkeys released,” said another.
Another fan posted a picture that said, “This isn’t just a CD. It’s a roadmap to my soul” with text that said: “Me after listening to ‘The Car’ by arctic monkeys on October 21st”.
FINALLY we've been waiting!!
— i⁴ misses billie (@gomezserve) August 24, 2022
i am NOT apologizing for the person i'd become when The Car by Arctic Monkeys released.
— amel VROOM VROOM BITCH (@tbhcalex) August 24, 2022
me after listening to "The Car" by arctic monkeys on October 21st: pic.twitter.com/LRJf9ZHJT0
— glo 🌱 (@Gloria_tpwk_) August 24, 2022
There were also some amusing memes shared on the platform, as people imagined different car setups. One was a screenshot from Mean Girls, another showed four monkeys sitting in a car.
album artwork for arctic monkeys’ seventh studio album “the car” (2022) pic.twitter.com/JBn9kR4fGX
— quinn 🪩 (@allIatonce) August 24, 2022
pov from inside the car pic.twitter.com/2VaM1HW3M8
— golden goose (@GoldenGoose_1) August 24, 2022
Given the band’s track record – they have had six straight number one albums since their first EP – The Car is likely to be another smash hit. Alex Turner has written the forthcoming album and it has been produced by longtime collaborator James Ford, who produced the band’s 2007 sophomore album Favourite Worst Nightmare.
Drummer Matt Helders has taken the photo that’s become the cover art – it’s a photo of a car park with one white car parked at the back. A tracklist has also been released alongside the announcement, which is listed below.
If it feels like an age since the Sheffield band dropped an EP, that is because it has been – their sixth album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino was released all the way back in 2018. But the band hasn’t been idle. They released the album Live at the Royal Albert Hall in 2020, with proceeds going to the charity War Child, and played on the PBS show Austin City Limits in 2019.
The Arctic Monkeys are currently on a world tour, which closes in Sydney in January. Tomorrow they’re playing in Paris before taking on the Main Stage at Reading Festival on Saturday and Leeds Festival on Sunday. While performing in Zurich this week the band debuted I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am, the second song in The Car.
Speaking about the new album to the Big Issue in a piece published today, frontman Turner said: “I think we’ve got closer to a better version of a more dynamic overall sound with this record.
“The strings on this record come in and out of focus and that was a deliberate move and hopefully everything has its own space. There’s time the band comes to the front and then the strings come to the front.”
The Car’s tracklist:
1 There’d Better Be a Mirrorball
2 I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am
3 Sculptures of Anything Goes
4 Jet Skis on the Moat
5 Body Paint
6 The Car
7 Big Ideas
8 Hello You
9 Mr Schwartz
10 Perfect Sense