A fierce bridge between garage-rock stardom and introspective songwriting. Five tracks of snarling defiance, airport-terminal loneliness, and dry British wit.
It's the sound of the biggest band in the world being annoyed that they're the biggest band in the world.
A sharp mixture of aggressive public defiance and quiet, private loneliness.
Released just months after their record-breaking debut, 'Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?' serves as both a victory lap and a middle finger to the music industry. The EP is historically significant as the final recording to feature original bassist Andy Nicholson, whose departure shortly after marked the end of the band's initial era. The title track is a meta-commentary on their own fame, critiquing the 'marketing' and 'derisory divides' of the UK press. Musically, the EP expanded their palette significantly; while 'The View from the Afternoon' and 'Cigarette Smoker Fiona' (a re-recording of an early demo) maintained their high-energy garage rock credentials, 'No Buses' and 'Despair in the Departure Lounge' introduced a folk-indebted, melancholic side of Alex Turner's songwriting that would later flourish in his side projects and solo work. Critics from Pitchfork and NME noted the EP's refusal to capitalize on easy radio hits, praising its raw production and lyrical bite.
Put this on for
last train home with headphones on and a dead phonepacing a fluorescent airport gate at 4amleaning against a brick wall outside a crowded pubrain hitting the windshield in a stationary carthat specific silence after a loud party ends abruptlystaring at a half-empty pint while overthinking a textwalking through a grey city center before the shops open
Moments worth waiting for
The sudden shift from frantic garage punk into a slow, heavy groove halfway through the title track.
The vulnerable, unadorned acoustic strumming on Despair in the Departure Lounge that highlights the cracks in Turner's voice.
The sharp, percussive guitar stabs that open Cigarette Smoker Fiona, mimicking the frantic energy of a night spiraling out of control.
Sounds like
2006s production with a 2000s soul
Sits beside
Up the Bracket - The Libertines, A Certain Trigger - Maxïmo Park, Wait for Me - The Pigeon Detectives, Employment - Kaiser Chiefs
Lyrical territory
social_commentary, love_lost, travel_journey
03Deviation
Who the Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys? · vs · Arctic Monkeys
Artist
This Album
Dry_intimate
Production · ↓ −17% less than usual
On this album, dry_intimate sits about 17% less prominent than across the rest of the artist's catalogue.
