Arctic Monkeys Explore Voyeurism, Surveillance in ‘Four Out of Five’ Video
After Arctic Monkeys embarked on a promotional trail that included no singles or music videos prior to the release of their new album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, the band has now shared their surreal visual for the album standout “Four Out of Five.”
The video opens with frontman Alex Turner at the piano crafting his sci-fi concept album before “Four Out of Five” explores themes of voyeurism and surveillance. In the twisted reality, a bearded Turner is seen directing the handheld camera footage, while a clean-shaven Turner is featured performing the track alongside the Arctic Monkeys.
The video also features a shot of Turner staring down at his cardboard concept of the Tranquility Base Hotel, a shot that was admittedly lifted out of The Shining. “I became quite consumed by that. Getting up in the middle of the night, going down and delving in,” Turner told Rolling Stone of his cardboard model. “I kept calling it the lobby model, like the idea that sometimes those things sit in the lobbies of the buildings they represent – that loop is appealing to me, like in The Shining, with the miniature hedge maze in the lobby, and he’s looking in there and then he sees the people are in there…”
The Arctic Monkeys, who did little to support Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino prior to its release May 11th, have started to thaw on their no-promotion stance as the band also performed “Four Out of Five” on The Tonight Show. In June, the band will embark on a North American tour showcasing Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Arctic Monkeys’ first LP since 2013’s AM.