Favourite Worst Nightmare

How do you follow up Britain’s fastest selling debut of all time? You record an even better one.

Unlike U2, The Stone Roses, and The Strokes, the Arctic Monkeys have been unaffected by DSAS (that’s Difficult Second Album Syndrome to you and me) and turned in a work that combines the immediacy of their first outing with a bit of variety and restraint. While ‘Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not’ tore along like a car hurtling down the M1 to London at 100 miles per hour, ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’ finds the Sheffield quartet pull over once in a while for a smoke, a beer, or a piss.

But they start off foot flat on the accelerator. Opener ‘Brianstorm’ hurtles out of the speakers, going hell for leather like one of the banging shout-alongs that made them one of 2006’s most exciting bands. So too, the cocky ‘D Is For Dangerous’ and get-out-of-the-way-or-we’ll-kick-your-arse rock of ‘Old Yellow Bricks’ reveal that unlike their rivals — Bloc Party, Editors and The Killers please stand up — Alex Turner and the boys haven’t opted for a bigger, smoother, safer sound. No pear cider for these boys, just yet — theirs is still a pint of lager.

Which doesn’t mean they’re exactly the same blokes who seemingly stumbled out of a bar and onto the charts last year. Remarkably, in the short space of time since they arrived on the top 40, Turner especially has matured. His lyrics, previously loutish, slice-of-life observations that went as deep as looking good on the dance floor, are now less self-centered and one dimensional. Ambitious, articulate and creative, they’re matched by music that’s developed exponentially too. No longer restricting themselves to the three-chord post-punk of their idols The Libertines and The Jam, songs like the shapeshifting ‘Do Me A Favour’, the nimble ‘Flourescent Adolescent’, and sparse, apprehensive ‘Only Ones Who Know’ are the work of a band expanding their horizons, taking a walk through the grass alongside the freeway before piling back into the car.

It’s obvious they’re on a journey of discovery and simply bristling with ideas they desperately want to get down on record. And that breathless combination of ambition and drive — as well as stacks of talent — makes ‘Nightmare’ such a compelling listen.

Go on, hitch a ride with them.