‘Body Paint’ also sees Turner showing off his propensity for an imaginative retelling of the mundane, his falsetto vocal delivery that make stories of body paint leftover from a cover shoot (“ on your legs, and on your arm and on your face”) feel like a sentence from a well-read poem. The pause following the phrase pushes the complaint home, right before gorgeous string arrangements pour in and Turner outlines a number of ailments caused by his current relationship predicament: “My teeth are beating and my knees are weak / As if there’s something wrong with the wiring.” “So predictable, I know what you’re thinking”, Turner confesses in the only line of the chorus. ‘Body Paint’ was a staggering highlight of the show, a promise of what fans can expect from the band’s new era. The crowd was quiet during its debut, swaying and glancing wide-eyed at Turner, Helders, Jamie Cook and Nick O’Malley who played the slow-burning track under a comically large mirrorball. The band premiered the track, which features on their upcoming album ‘The Car‘, during an intimate set at New York City’s Kings Theater last week. READ MORE: Arctic Monkeys live in Brooklyn: their next era has truly begun.This time, the ballads come with more of a swagger. ‘Body Paint’ continues that tradition, with cheeky lyrics on doing time in the “tanning booth” so the sun “won’t catch you crying” and keeping on costumes as a writing tool in tow. With tracks like ‘The Ultracheese’, ‘One Point Perspective’ and ‘Star Treatment’, the Sheffield band cornered the market on songs that could play in the background of a futuristic lounge bar whilst you’re contemplating a romantic tryst that had gone terribly wrong. Their most recent album, ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’, cemented Arctic Monkeys as masters of ballads of the more sultry kind. The song commences at a measured pace, bringing in bright bell-like piano playing as Matt Helders drums evenly and meditatively in the background. “For a master of deception and subterfuge / You’ve made yourself quite the bed, to lie in” Alex Turner accuses in the opening lines of ‘Body Paint’.
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