Arctic Monkeys – I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am Review

As Arctic Monkeys trickle out tracks ahead of the release of The Car, the 1970s influence becomes clearer and clearer. Elton John, David Bowie, and now a stroke or two of Jimi Hendrix’s masterful guitarwork cuts through their latest track, I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am. There is an immediate funk simplicity to this track, miles apart from Body Paint and There’d Better Be a Mirrorball, which were clear remnants of Tranquillity Base Hotel and Casino. There is no basis in Arctic Monkeys’ discography in I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am, a real and clear example of a new sound from the band drawing from old influences.  

There is a layered simplicity to this third single from The Car, which opens with a brief cry of what must be relief. Arctic Monkeys have found a real, quality groove to slot themselves into this time around, and where that comes apparent is in that continued 70s encroachment. Stylistic choices that pen their music as humble comparisons to the great pioneers of the genre, but still sticking with that lucid, spy-like lyricism. Retina scans and freaky keypads locked in with a disco strobe, eliciting tones of James Bond, Roger Moore and Saturday Night Fever all at once. It is a frenetic blur brought together by Alex Turner, but moreso by the guitar work featured throughout. Deeper than that though is a well-weighed criticism of the idle hands and criticism of the press roulette that Arctic Monkeys once dealt with. 

No need for them to deal with it now though, their meteoric rise marked them as untouchable, and a track that isn’t as good as expected, like I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am, can still have an impact. Turner complains of shaking hands and being blinded by those disco lights, and that leaves an impression. His guitar work and that of the rest of the spotty instrumentals throughout crash into the vocals, leaving a strange dissonance. A quiet dissonance, but it can be felt as Arctic Monkeys begin to sound as though they are drifting off into their own influences. It worked on the quietly touching and eventually uproarious Body Paint, but for I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am, it feels a tad clumsy, if not well-versed in the mood it hopes to suggest and reflect on.  

Where do the band think they are, though? They hope to craft something stripped back and “down to Earth” but continue to sound as though they are continuing on from Tranquillity Base Hotel and Casino and adamantly, impressively so. Mystical at times, there is a removed quality in Turner’s work here, a fine song that does, as he hopes the lyrics will reflect on, send a chill up the spine. Is that from imagery and Hendrix funk influence, or is it from smart wordplay? Perhaps both, though neither works without the other. It is why it is so strange that the pair attempt to push back against one another, seeking dominance in a track that needs unity, clarity and pacing. I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am doesn’t quite have what it thinks it does.