Alex Turner / Submarine EP / Domino Records
“Even when you know which way it’s gonna blow, it’s hard to get around the wind,” sings first time solo artist Alex Turner (also of the Arctic Monkeys) on this EP slash indie film soundtrack. It’s a line that seems to say, “no matter how much experience you get in life, some things never get any easier”. The three quiet acoustic ballads, two distinctly un-Arctic Monkey style, office-radio pop tracks (“Stuck on the Puzzle” and “Piledriver Waltz”), and a single brief intro that make up Submarine are variations of this theme; thoughtfully musing on long lost relationships and wounds that haven’t fully healed. The trick is knowing all of this and purposefully not turning up your nose at the whole idea.
The wide-eyed wonder, the unrealistic idealistic passions, the visceral inexperienced longing – he does a really good job conveying all of these smoothly into songs that all warrant second listens. It’s a collection, for the most part, of songs that are more well-written and relatable than at first glance. They just happen to be more fitted for fans of The Swell Season than the Arctic Monkeys.
Download: “Hiding Tonight”, “It’s Hard To Get Around The Wind”
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