Alex Turner: Why Arctic Monkeys' New Album Is Like Debut...

17 May 2018, 17:17 | Updated: 19 September 2018, 12:07

Find out how the frontman believes Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is linked to Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.

Arctic Monkeys' sixth studio album is their most polarising studio effort so far, with some fans seeing it as far cry from their Sheffield roots.

However, speaking to Radio X's John Kennedy in his X-Posure Playback special, frontman Alex Turner explained why their Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino LP is actually more connected to their Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not debut than people may first think.

Speaking about their new album's opening track, Star Treatment, which begins with the lyrics "I just wanted to be one of The Strokes," he said: "There’s something about how blunt it is, that almost caused me to dare myself to leave it in.

"It reminds me of the way I would have written the lyrics on that first record of ours as well.

"There’s something about this record and that first one… There’s a similarity to them and I couldn’t draw as strong a similarity to any [album] in between. I can’t quite put me finger on what it is. Maybe it’s in that line and how direct it is.”

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. Picture: Artwork

Despite drawing upon the similarities between the two records, the Four Out of Five rocker is happy to admit the album sticks out because of its influences.

Asked if the new album's sound was due to all of the literary inspirations he'd gained, he told John Kennedy: “I think it has a lot to do with that. There’s probably a list of reasons why it’s different to AM, but that’s certainly one of them."

The Four Out of Five singer added: "I think in the past, what I was reading and watching didn’t come into the music as much as it has now. I didn’t think I was letting it in.

"I think I thought while I knew it would inform my style as a writer, it always seemed like where I would get away from songwriting, but I don’t think that’s the case anymore”.