Following on from the Sci-Fi left turn of previous release, ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’, the latest from Arctic Monkey’s returns to earth while continuing to craft an expansive, cinematic vision. Uneasy and opaque, ‘The Car’ has the feeling of a grand concept album or Rock Opera while never really tying together a central narrative thread. Instead, repeat mentions of cars and veiled notes of moving away, leaving things behind, find ‘The Car’ acting as a liminal space in Alex Turner’s real life move from Los Angeles back to the UK.

Filled with piano and strings, the instrumentation here is swollen and grand with slow bass grooves and hints and crooning Soul and light Jazz. Album highlight, ‘Big Ideas’, feels like a classic Hollywood soundtrack crossed with the Baroque Pop of The Auteurs.