Arctic Monkeys on The Car album: "We're still listening to the same instinct we were in 2005"

21 October 2022, 13:15 | Updated: 28 December 2022, 13:11

Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner and Matt Helders
Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner and Matt Helders took part in a track by track with John Kennedy. Picture: Radio X/Stefano Broli

By Jenny Mensah

Alex Turner told Radio X's John Kennedy the band are still using the same instinct that they were when they were recording their debut.

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Arctic Monkeys believe they use their instincts in the same way they did when they made their debut album.

The Sheffield rockers released their seventh studio album, The Car, on Friday 21st September and though they've continued to experiment with their sound throughout the years, but say their instincts have remained the same since they were creating their 2006 debut Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

Alex Turner and Matt Helders spoke to Radio X's John Kennedy in a special Track by Track album playback and reflected on the process involved in making the record.

Asked if there's much discussion when it came to the release, Turner revealed: "I don't think excessively so, no. I think most of this stuff in this process comes down to instinct at the end of the day and always has done.

"I think we're still listening to the same voice inside, that instinct, that we were in 2005."

Listen back to Arctic Monkeys' Track By Track of The Car with John Kennedy on Global Player

Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner, Radio X's John Kennedy and Arctic Monkeys' Matt Helders
Listen to Arctic Monkeys on John Kennedy's X-Posure Track by Track album playback this Friday 21st October from 11pm on Global Player. . Picture: Stephano Broli/Radio X

READ MORE: Arctic Monkeys drop new video for I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am

I think we're still listening to the same voice inside, that instinct, that we were in 2005.

- Alex Turner, Arctic Monkeys

The frontman and also talked about album opener There'd Better Be A Mirrorball, and explained why its intro kicked off the whole basis of the album.

That was the first thing that was written for the record that I really had the feeling was worth following," revealed the frontman.

"It feels like a theme or something," he continued. "Then the discussion became, I suppose, how to wrangle that into a pop song, which I think by the end of the song, it feels as if you've arrived in that territory."

He added: "Everything else on the album had to be able to hang out with Mirrorball. That was that."

Arctic Monkeys on There'd Better Be A Mirrorball

Listen back to Arctic Monkeys' Track By Track of The Car with John Kennedy on Global Player

Stream the album in full below::

Arctic Monkeys - The Car track listing:

  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

Listen back to Arctic Monkeys' Track By Track of The Car with John Kennedy on Global Player

READ MORE: Arctic Monkeys reportedly signed to headline Glastonbury 2023

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