Arctic Monkeys are back in Sheffield, and back in the studio, according to a tweet from Look North film maker, Shamir Masri.
Alex Turner told me during an interview for @BBCSheffield they are coming back to Sheffield to pen a new album.. it IS happening! https://t.co/ObeO10rNmn
— Shamir Masri (@ShamirMasri) December 23, 2016
Masri tweeted several hours ago that ‘Alex Turner told me during an interview for @BBCSheffield they are coming back to Sheffield to pen a new album.. it IS happening!’ The band have been back in Sheffield for a while, with many fans (and a dad) tweeting pictures of the band in their hometown haunts. However, up to now any speculation that the band were back to produce new music rather than simply to see their families, was exactly that, speculation. For example, back in August the band’s PR were forced to issue a statement in response to photoshopped artwork tweeted by a fan which suggested the band would return to the studio in September by saying the new album wouldn’t be ‘in the very near future though (despite overkeen fans!)’ Similarly, Turner responded to a question from Radio X around the same time about whether there were plans for a new album with a fairly non-committal response, ‘No, there aren’t really, Not yet. But there will be at some point. I mean, we’ll see with that. No rush.’ However, with this tweet it appears we have confirmation, albeit indirectly, from frontman Alex Turner that the band will be returning to the studio to record in short order. There is, however, no news yet on who will be producing the album, where exactly in the Steel City it will be recorded or, perhaps most importantly, the name of the follow up to ‘AM’.
Since the band released AM the members have been engaged in a variety of side-projects, most notably, Alex Turner’s re-unification with Miles Kane to release their second album as The Last Shadow Puppets, entitled ‘Everything You’ve Come To Expect.’ Despite Turner’s promise back in August that ‘the plan was to end [The Last Shadow Puppets] at the end of the summer, and I think we’ll stick to that,’ the band recently released a further EP, ‘The Dream Synopsis.’ The record contains original work as well as covers of songs originally performed by artists including Jacques Dutronc, The Fall and Leonard Cohen. They don’t have any further tour dates scheduled, however, so maybe this will mean Kane and Turner go their separate ways, at least for now. Turner wasn’t the only one to fill his break with other things, however, as Matt Helders took up with Iggy Pop for the ‘Post Pop Depression’ album and subsequent tour.
It remains to be seen whether a return to the band’s physical roots will find a musical equivalent, and produce an album more like their debut than AM, or not.
