'It’s such a tour de force'

Nicky Wire from Manic Street Preachers has shared his enthusiasm for Arctic Monkeys challenging sixth album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino.

“I’ve been inspired by Arctic Monkeys’ new album, as lyrically it’s such a tour de force,” he told NME.

“It’s one of the great lyrical albums of all time – the wizardry of the rhymes, the topics and the substance, I’ve found those words really inspirational. The first time I heard ‘Four Out Of Five’, I knew it was something intrinsically interesting.”

Indeed, ‘Four Out Of Five’ is an extraordinary bit of work – taking the sci-fi concept of the rest of the album and fast-forwarding to a point where living on the moon is like like living in any modern city, with gentrification and poncy taco stands. Genius, really.

“To be honest, I’ve never been their biggest fan before,” confessed Wire.

“I’ve always admired them lyrically and I love the ‘Submarine’ soundtrack Alex Turner did, but the lyrics on this record feel like he’s thrown off the shackles.

“It’s out of this world, there’s no lyricists matching that in modern pop music.”

He then goes on to quote track three off the record, ‘American Sports’.

“‘A montage of the latest ancient ruins / Soundtracked by a chorus of You Don’t Know What You’re Doing’

“That’s sensational writing.”

His praise carries extra weight, because elsewhere in the interview he makes it clear he can’t be arsed with much of modern rock/pop output:

“I gave up on music over the last two or three years. It was my brain shutting down in certain areas. I can’t separate music from words any more, and if the words aren’t good, I can’t be bothered.

“I used to be able to forget about that, but I can’t now. So if the words don’t speak to me, I can’t be moved by the music. There are exceptions, like Sunflower Bean – the lyrics to ‘Twentytwo’ are amazing, like Dylan Thomas transposed to LA. And Wolf Alice are the full package. I find Ellie’s lyrics really stimulating.”

The Manic’s latest LP Resistance Is Futile is out now. They’ll be playing Y Not, Rize and BBC Radio 2’s Party In The Park.