Arctic Monkeys announce new album, ‘The Car’

Gaia Writer

Arctic Monkeys have announced their seventh album, The Car, due October 21 via Domino. It features ten new songs written by frontman Alex Turner and produced by longtime collaborator James Ford. Check out the artwork (shot by drummer Matt Helders) and tracklist below.

Arctic Monkeys haven't released any singles from the album yet, but they did debut its song "I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am" at Switzerland's Zurich Openair festival last night (8/23). Going by a fan-shot video that's surfaced online, it seems to pick up where the loungey vibes of 2018's Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino left off, and it's got some nice psych-funk wah guitar in there. Check the video out below.

Though the new song seems musically similar to the last album, Alex Turner tells Big Issue that, lyrically, "sci-fi is off the table" on this record. "We are back to earth." He also adds:

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.

About making the album in rural Suffolk, he said, "There’s a bunch of Led Zeppelin and Stones records where they were in this house in the country and then they went and sorted it all out and overdubbed it elsewhere. We went there in the summer, took all the equipment, got the raw material and then took it on elsewhere." Read more here.

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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

Arctic Monkeys -- 2022/2023 Tour Dates
August 2022
August 25 - Rock En Seine, Paris, France
August 27 - Reading Festival, UK
August 28 - Leeds Festival, UK

September 2022
September 1 - Cala Mijas Festival, Malaga, Spain
September 2 - Kalorama, Lisbon, Portugal
September 4 - Electric Picnic, Stradbally, Ireland
September 16 - Life Is Beautiful Festival, Las Vegas, Nevada, US
September 18 - Primavera Sound, Los Angeles, California, US

November 2022
November 4 - Jeunesse Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
November 5 - Primavera Sound, São Paulo, Brazil
November 8 - Pedreira Paulo Leminsk, Curitiba, Brazil
November 10 - Kilk Fest, Asunción, Paraguay
November 12 - Primavera Sound, Santiago de Chile, Chile
November 13 - Primavera Sound, Buenos Aires, Argentina
November 15 - Arena 1, Lima, Peru
November 17 - Coliseo Live, Bogota, Colombia
November 19 - Corona Capital Festival, Mexico City, Mexico

December 2022
December 29 - Lost Paradise, Sydney, Australia
December 31 - Falls Festival VIC, Murron (Victoria), Australia

January 2023
January 2 - Falls Festival NSW, Yelgun, Australia
January 4 - Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, Australia
January 5 - Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne, Australia
January 6 - Heaps Good Festival, Adelaide, Australia
January 8 - Falls Festival WA, Perth, Australia
January 11 - Riverstage, Brisbane, Australia
January 14 - The Domain, Sydney, Australia