The first comment to make about the Arctic Monkeys debut album is that the hype is on target - it really is that good. Rarely, when I am reviewing a new album do I listen to the entire length straight through and eagerly want to listen to the whole thing again immediately. Not only did I do that with the Arctic Monkeys, but also couldn't wait to listen to it yet again later in the day. It is an album to treasure.
Honing of Influences
Much that has been written about Arctic Monkeys in the music press has attempted to define them based on influences. There is the brashness of the Clash, the distinctive Britishness of the Jam and Kinks, the guitar worship of Oasis, and the anarchic spirit of the Libertines, to name just a few. However, reciting the apparent DNA markers of this album does not provide an adequate description. The defiant stance of the album's title is a truism.
Like most of the great pop-rock artists of the past, Arctic Monkeys take hold of their musical influences then hone them and polish them until they shine brilliantly in a musical context that is breathtakingly fresh. The musical spirits of all of the bands mentioned above are present here, but this album is more than simply the sum of its wide ranging parts.
Brilliant Songwriting
While Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not includes invigorating, spitting rave-ups, it is also anchored by beautifully durable songs. "Mardy Bum's" targeted dissection of the impact of mood in a personal relationship is both heartrending in its intimacy and hauntingly familiar. Few have escaped being on one or both sides of this equation in relationships with important others.
"When the Sun Goes Down," the band's second straight #1 pop single in the UK, maintains a taut tension between wanting to look away from its tale of a woman of the street and a suspicious "scummy man" and being drawn into the invigorating music and nearly cinematic description of events. In the end, the exquisite skill of Arctic Monkeys forces you to look deeply into their working class world and not turn away.
Serious Fun
It would be easy to discuss Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not in terms that would imply the album is intense, artsy, and inaccessible. This is far from the case. There are moments of intensity and words to not take lightly, but the music is seriously fun.
The band's razor sharp humor is abundant in songs like their first hit "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor." The woeful protagonist of the song vainly attempts to lure a woman in for a romantic encounter but is ultimately left with just "just banging tunes in DJ sets and Dirty dancefloors and dreams of naughtiness."
"Riot Van" cloaks its exploration of the interaction between police and local youth in observations of humorously absurd conversation like "'Have you been drinking son, you don’t look old enough to me' 'I’m sorry officer is there a certain age you’re supposed to be?… nobody told me'"
And What Does It Sound Like?
While the majority of the music of the Arctic Monkeys is uptempo, guitar-driven pop-rock with a kinship to bands such as Franz Ferdinand and the Killers, the band also proves adept at fully stripped down, slower material. The vocals are delivered in a strong, proper northern English accent that may be difficult to understand for some American ears and pleasing in its distinctiveness to others. Words and phrases such as "mardy bum," "Frank Spencer," and "tracky bottoms" may be initially unfamiliar, lyrical context quickly makes things clear.
Sequencing of songs is a final brilliant element of Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not that wraps up the album as an integral work of art. Kicking off with the brash "View From the Afternoon," dipping in the middle to the intimacy of "Riot Van" and "Mardy Bum" then closing with the surprising, but beautiful, light ska of "A Certain Romance," the album feels satisfyingly complete and whole. It is an instant classic.
