Arctic Monkeys - The Car ALBUM COVER REVIEW: A Potential Return to Arctic Form
ENTRY 016: any other indie rock covers come to mind?
sheffield rock giants Arctic Monkeys have announced their new album, The Car. in this issue, we’ll dissect the mysterious cover art and place it in context of their other releases.
The Car
Arctic Monkeys
their first release since 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, arctic monkeys are back with The Car.
let’s first place the album in visual context of their other releases—
The Car follows the theme (barring Humbug) of not having the band themselves on the cover in any way. i personally could care less for their first three covers, but from Suck It and See onwards i’m way into what they’ve done. the purely graphic nature of both SIAS and AM is timeless, and iconic in a way that’s stuck with fans. TBH&C is elegant and minimal, perfectly fitting the airy space rock on the record.
formally, The Car’s cover is very industrial, which i love. it’s sort of immediately alluring in this way, as it presents a bleak image of a lonely car in the middle of a tight city, on the top of a large parking complex. makes me wonder if the music will reflect or reject this feeling?
there’s almost exclusively straight lines everywhere, very few curves or turns. there is some graffiti on the small tower in the foreground however, showing that somebody has been here at some point. i have no real way of knowing, but it even looks like the straight lines on the buildings have been edited to be exactly 90 degrees.
also, check out those red light poles!! how they incapsulate the car, feels very serendipitous, but so so nice and important for the shot.
when i first saw the monkeys post this on instagram, i immediately thought of a few other covers in the indie rock space.
i was first reminded of their 2006 EP Who The Fuck Are Arctic Monkeys?, quite obviously, but mostly because of the whole “photo in white frame” thing.
this one has a more raw photographic style, and feels like it was done on a point and shoot quickly and carelessly (but in an effective way!).
The Car has a much more considered focal photo, that appears to be a film shot? the white car itself is just a little off-top-left-center, but the shot is more static and has less movement than the other.
a couple other formally similar covers include Days by Real Estate, and bury me at make out creek by Mitski.
not only is the graphic makeup the same (photo in white frame), but the notable repetition of the subject matter—in this case, buildings, really bring these covers together for me. odd too, considering they’re all more or less in the same musical family.
with not a single organic element in sight, i’m digging the dull color palette, provided by the metropolitan setting of the shot. i don’t even think i see one bird here.
the merch, logo, + peripherals (smh…)
so with the new album + cover drop, we have a new logo too it seems. let’s look at their logos through the years and compare.
honestly, each logo is surprisingly and impressively fitting for each of their eras and sounds. my least favourite is definitely the first one, which is ironic because that’s my favourite album of theirs. #2 is so striking and weird, #3 is equally illustrative and psychedelic, and #4 + #5 are crazy good i think. #4 seems to be most synonymous with the group, as AM was their biggest album. but man #5 is so fitting for the album they did!!! super 70’s and hotel-y in nature.
the new one? i could do without it…its ok. it just sorta exists, doesn’t do much with their brand, and i’m just praying the album’s music is more expressive than this logo. it’s fine and i suppose fits with the cover, but i woulda liked to see something done with handwriting or script maybe this time around.
the merch (an even larger smh…)
dude. this merch sucks lol !!! it’s in line with this bullshit boring ass merch thing that big acts do a lot where it’ll just be the artist’s name or a picture of the artist or literally just the album cover on a shirt. kendrick did it recently with Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, jake bugg did it with his latest effort, and we’re seeing it again here.
boring as all shit !!! fuckin hell hahaha. put some thought and intention into it!!! arctic monkeys have built such an interesting and long visual history of themselves, could totally take advantage of this and make some seriously cool merch.
i do love the album packaging though. that cassette with the helvetica black type is goooorgeous, love love love it. the little air freshener is the best piece they’ve released so far, thematically fitting, and something i’d actually wanna get my hands on. simple, thoughtful, and fun.
overall, i’ve got high hopes for this album. if the cover is any indication, it seems like they’re stripping back their vibe a lot from the TBH&C era, and may do a more simplistic style of rock n’ roll. love the album cover and really hoping the monkeys pull through here, so please let me know what you guys think!!!
thank for reading :) 🥶🐒
this review rocks!! (like arctic monkeys)
loved this one Sam 👏 soo excited for this album!!