Arctic Monkeys return with ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’

Arctic Monkeys have returned with their first single in four years, a slow jazz-tinged effort called ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’.

The lead single from their upcoming seventh album ‘The Car’ sees the Sheffield outfit show off a Bond-esque edge, with soaring strings and keys which eventually make way for Alex Turner’s oblique lyrics.

Don’t get emotional, that ain’t like you / Yesterday’s still leaking through the roof / That’s nothing new,” Turner croons on its first verse. “I know I promised this is what I wouldn’t do / Somehow giving it the old romantic fool / Seems to better suit the mood.”

You can also watch the track’s music video, directed by Turner, in full below.

The track’s debut comes after the band played their first UK shows in four years over the weekend at Reading & Leeds festival.

While this latest track did not feature on their setlist, they did play ‘I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am’, a funky mid-tempo track they initially debuted during a show in Switzerland last week.

Their latest album ‘The Car’ arrives on October 21 and is once more produced by long-time collaborator James Ford, featuring ten new songs written by frontman Alex Turner and recorded at Butley Priory in Suffolk, La Frette in Paris and RAK Studios, London.

Speaking to The Big Issue in the band’s first interview of the year, Turner said the record leaned away from the intergalactic lounge-pop sound that was explored on their last record, 2018’s Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino.

“On this record, sci-fi is off the table. We are back to earth”, Turner said.

You can check out the tracklisting in full below.

1. ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’
2. ‘I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am’
3. ‘Sculptures Of Anything Goes’
4. ‘Jet Skis On The Moat’
5. ‘Body Paint’
6. ‘The Car’
7. ‘Big Ideas’
8. ‘Hello You’
9. ‘Mr Schwartz’
10. ‘Perfect Sense’