Arctic Monkeys' meteoric rise of 2005/06 looks, with hindsight, like a microcosm of the industry hype machine in the '00s. It was all a bit too instant. Understandably some people cried foul, or at worst, proclaimed them to be everything that's wrong about British music. The more level-headed amongst us called it as we saw it; Arctic Monkeys were just another decent guitar-pop band, with too much praise heaped upon them.
With this in mind, they returned to the studio, determined to go one better with their second album. And it shows, for the most part. Across its twelve tracks, there's a definite broadening of scope at work. This is as adventurous a record that you get in Britrock these days. Cause for celebration or damning indictment of these complacent times?
Favourite Worst Nightmare, whilst not taking too many risks, is the sound of a band pushing themselves to their limits, while having a keen knowledge of where said limits lie. You can hear this extended reach in the rollick and flex of 'Brianstorm', or the intricate arrangement of album centrepiece, 'If You Were There, Beware'. For every arresting, that's-a-new-one triumph, there's a step backwards like the borderline cynical festival anthem in the making, 'Fluorescent Adolescent' or a bold misstep like the clumsy atmospherics of 'Only Ones Who Know'. The most heartening signifier of the band's maturity comes with 'Do Me A Favour', wherein Alex Turner's sharp witticisms carry more poignancy than before.
FWN is by no means a great leap forward for the UK music scene, but it does display a band unwilling to rest on their laurels. Arctic Monkeys are most definitely not the saviours of rock that some may have you believe, but they just took a step in the right direction.
http://www.highvoltage.org.uk/displaydemoreview.asp?num=2612&band=371
N.B.: Ignore the five-star rating below this. Think my editor may have well been having a laugh. If I remember correctly, I gave it three.
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