Hear Arctic Monkeys’ First New Album in Five Years, Frontman Alex Turner’s Beats 1 Interview

Alex Turner and his Arctic Monkeys have released their first new album in five years, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, via Domino Records. Alongside the album’s release, Turner sat down with Zane Lowe for an interview on Beats 1, discussing Arctic Monkey’s sixth LP, their recording process, their cinematic influences and much more.

Fascinatingly, Arctic Monkeys didn’t release any singles whatsoever ahead of their new album, although they did live-debut a handful of tracks during a show in San Diego last week. Back in March, a fan claimed that Turner had told him the band’s new music would be released “soon”—apparently, he meant the entire album, with “soon” here meaning “in two months.” Critical response to the album has been favorable so far—it currently has a rock-solid Metascore of 76.

In his Beats 1 interview, Turner described Tranquility Base—the band’s first album since 2013’s AM—as “11 short stories.” As you’ll see in the clip below, the singer explains that its first track, “Star Treatment,” was originally meant as a rough draft, rather than a bonafide album opener. Turner offers his rationale for name-dropping The Strokes in that song, jokes about another track titled “The World’s First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip” and reveals that album closer “The Ultracheese” featured the band ”[getting] in a room and doing a live take.”