Review: Creating Sonic Space with Arctic Monkeys’ Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino
by Daniel Duffin
Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino is the sixth studio album by the Arctic Monkeys, released in 2018. Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino is a Concept album about the titular Hotel and Casino, built in the future on Tranquility Base, the real site of the first moon landing. Singer, songwriter, and frontman of Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner described this album as the sounds of a specific place. In an interview with BBC Radio 1, Turner said, “Some of my favourite records to me feel like places, that you can move in for the day if you like” (Turner, 2018).
Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino mixes the sounds of lounge jazz with modern rock to transport its listeners to the fictional hotel conceived by Turner. The unique sound, echoey mixing, and topical lyrics makes you feel like you are in a real place, listening to live music. You can hear the sounds echo off the walls, you can connect with the themes as feelings you’d personally experience in a hotel, you can see people walking the halls and having conversations, as these characters are showcased from song to song.
Arctic Monkeys released their first single in 2005 and has consistently evolved musically with the times. Starting out as a rock band, they transitioned towards indie rock, and then pop. With their fifth studio album AM they became a global sensation, as they combined R&B instrumentals with touches of rock and marketed to a wider pop music audience. AM is their best-selling album, selling 2.7 million records (BestSellingAlbums.org, n.d.).
Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino stands as a deliberate contrast and struggle against AM, both musically and lyrically. The unique pop rock sound of AM brought them widespread fame, but it seems fame isn’t what they want. Throughout the album, Turner expresses the feelings of isolation and stress that fame has brought him.
When the rope connecting this tug-o-war between the past and the present snapped, the band was flung decades into the past, attempting to replicate sounds and aesthetics from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. To escape fame, it seems the band decided to make an album that sounded as different from AM as they possibly could.
The album is very deliberate with its sounds and mixing. The instrumentals blend when they want to and draw harsh contrast when it’s their turn. The opening song, “Star Treatment ” has every instrument echo and meld together. This echo doesn’t simply imitate the messiness of a live performance, it paints a deliberate image of the hotel lobby, like a bat using echolocation. The echoing tells you how big the room is, what speakers the band is using, and how close or far you’re sitting from the stage. The musical style and aesthetic tell you how the room looks, how you’re dressed, what type of chair you’re sitting in, how the chairs would feel, what you’re drinking. Aside from the mixing, the performers themselves also feel real and present, it isn’t a producer at a computer, its musicians playing together. They call and respond to each other. It almost feels like improvisation at times. As the album continues, you picture yourself walking the halls, hearing conversations, meeting the characters. As an introduction to the album, it transports you to a very specific place, with a specific feeling, full of specific people.