Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning

The taster for the Sheffield megastars third record sees them once again shift direction dramatically. Sure, there’s hits of both second album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ and of Alex Turner’s ‘other band’, the phenomenally successful in their own right Last Shadow Puppets but to say that this is a predicable turn of events would be a fib and a half.

Seemingly, producer Josh Homme (along with regular man James Ford) has managed to bring out the full rock potential in this band of Sheffield boys with the music now reflecting the sounds of the desert that it was recorded in. The growling bass gives the song an unpredictable air, with the feel that it could veer off drastically into either some electro throb or a hard rock howler at any moment. Turners vocals sound eerie also, making the referenced pick and mix sound rather sinister.

What else makes ‘Crying Lightning’ great (apart from the thundering chorus) is that whilst clearly separating the men from the boys that the band were, it should do the same for their fans. Picking out the true admirers of the bands musical talent and songsmithery from those who simply rode the coat-tails of success to listen to songs about girls and dancefloors.