“Brick by Brick”
from the album Suck It and See
2011
iTunes
Five years ago, the only people who seemed impervious to Monkeymania were Arctic Monkeys themselves, who took the record-breaking U.K. sales and breathless next-Beatles hosannas with a calm detachment that belied their teenhood. That poise has served the band quite well — four albums in, and they’ve hit a remarkable mid-career groove that most bands their age will never see.
Which isn’t to say that they’re coasting — 2009’s Humbug took the lads from industrial Sheffield to producer Josh Homme’s baked Palm Desert domain, yielding a sludgier curveball, although the creases in the boys’ Black Sabbath T-shirts always looked a little too crisp to be believed. Suck It blends the deliberateness of that record with the fleet-footedness of their still-stunning 2006 debut Whatever You Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not and follow-up My Favourite Worst Nightmare.
The constant throughout remains frontman Alex Turner’s smart mouth. Edgy gems like “If you’re gonna try and walk on water / Make sure you wear your comfortable shoes” (“Piledriver Waltz”) are more crooned than spat, and guitarist Jamie Cook has studied his Johnny Marr playbook. But even at a steady mid-tempo (only “Library Pictures” attempts to match the bugged-out pace of “I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor”), nothing feels turgid.
In fact, the title track may be the loveliest thing they’ve ever recorded: “I poured my aching heart into a pop song / I couldn’t get the hang of poetry / That’s not a skirt, girl, that’s a sawn-off shotgun / And I can only hope you’ve got it aimed at me.” Paul Westerberg, wherever he is, nods agreeably.