Alex Turner has admitted that Arctic Monkeys’ new album is lacking in "big choruses".
The ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’ hitmakers released their sixth LP ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’ earlier this year, and the frontman explained how the focus of their songwriting has changed over the years.
Appearing on podcast ‘Kyle Meredith With…’, he was asked if the shift was deliberate, and replied: "Yes, in some cases, I think definitely. If there are hooks on this album, I suppose they don’t come in the form of choruses as they have in the past on some of our songs. I feel like they’re still in there, one way or another.
"As far as the structures go, I don’t know if I’d say in the past we’ve had more of a desire to explore structures that fall outside the usual.
"I would actually say most of this album does go verse-chorus-verse-chorus-middle eight more than some stuff we have done in the past. But I suppose it maybe doesn’t seem like that cos the choruses aren’t necessarily made for the stadium."
The 32-year-old musician also dismissed the idea of turning the experimental album – which is lyrically inspired by science fiction and tied together through the concept of a luxury moon resort – into a screenplay in its own right.
He said: "Not at all really because I think it completely relies on the fact that it’s a record. I tend to think, more and more, so much of the stuff I write – the lyrics, that is – without the melody for the words to be poured into, a lot of it wouldn’t work…
"What you get when you put it to the melody, in my opinion, you then evoke the feeling that you’re chasing after. That can be – I don’t know if vague is the right word – but you might not be able to describe completely what that feeling is, but you know what it is when you have it."