"It's a moody, sensuous song that sounds like a natural continuation of everything the Arctic Monkeys have been up to in the second half of their ever-evolving career. Atop some dark, slithering guitar, Alex Turner sounds as laid-back and impossibly cool as he has ever since he started slicking his hair back and donning suits, and he's still full of the kind of lyrical tongue-twisters that only Alex Turner would write ("Popular slogan in a bucket of paint/Supercomputer on a jolly crusade")."
"One of the first things that stands out about "Opening Night," the first Arctic Monkeys song in four years, is the drums. It's not exactly "Brianstorm," but the Monkeys' not-so-secret weapon that is Matt Helders took a bit of a backseat on 2018's Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino and even more so on 2022's loungey The Car, and here he is on "Opening Night" giving the band a kind of driving backbone"
Opening Night centers on prominent, driving drums that reassert Matt Helders' rhythmic backbone after reduced presence on previous records. Distorted guitar stabs add punch while the arrangement remains moody and sensuous, continuing the band's later, lounge-influenced evolution rather than reverting to earlier rock forms. Alex Turner delivers laid-back, slick vocals with dense, tongue-twisting lyrics and occasional falsetto harmonies that evoke Steely Dan. The track builds gradually to a subtle climax. Opening Night serves as the first single for War Child's HELP(2) charity album, produced by James Ford. A rumor surfaced that the band might end after this release.
Read at BrooklynVegan
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