‘Histoire de Melody Nelson’: The iconic album Alex Turner has tried to imitate for 10 years
Alex Turner, the iconic Arctic Monkeys frontman, is often subjected to a common misconception that his musical influences are limited solely to the early 2000s indie rock repertoire. However, this assumption fails to acknowledge the breadth and depth of Turner’s eclectic listening habits. While the band’s formative years were indeed rooted in the indie rock scene, his musical explorations extend far beyond those boundaries, and his expansive musical palette reflects a keen appreciation for music that transcends those expectations.
Going into the depths of musical inspirations that inspired Turner’s latter years requires an understanding of what came to be his first and biggest major musical departure – Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino.
Beyond the initial space age pop exterior, Tranquility Base is a lesson in everything Turner. Recorded at La Frette Studios in France, the album has a distinctive presence in all genres, from psychedelic rock to French pop, resulting in something that’s equally as confusing as it is delightful. Amid the cobwebbed lunar-inspired 1970s tropes and retro-futurist intentions, therein lies the beauty of Turner’s biggest reach: Serge Gainsbourg’s magnum opus Histoire de Melody Nelson.
Gainsbourg’s concept album has wielded a profound and direct influence on Turner’s musical journey, dating back to his contributions to The Last Shadow Puppets’ debut album, The Age of the Understatement. However, in Tranquility Base, he purposefully weaves a deliberate homage to Gainsbourg, prominently channelling its iconic bass sound. This is especially evident on the album’s title track, where Turner evokes the essence of Dave Richmond’s bass work on the original Gainsbourg sessions, capturing the distinctive and evocative tones using the Burns Vista Sonic bass.
“I’ve been chasing down the Melody Nelson bass tone for, like, ten years now,” said Turner in a 2018 interview with MOJO. He wasn’t the first to be influenced by its mastery, and he certainly won’t be the last – despite its minimalist approach, each of the album’s ingredients is utilised with exquisite precision. From the mesmerising guitar, drums, bass, and vocals to the ethereal strings, every element is expertly honed. The spellbinding string arrangements crafted by Jean-Claude Vannier are unparalleled in their scintillating beauty.
Histoire de Melody Nelson was very much an exercise in limitation, but everything that makes up the rich tapestry of Tranquility Base speaks to the opposite. Its arrangements and lyricism may seem jarring and, at times, even claustrophobic, but within each theme touched upon with Turner’s poetic mastery – from media consumption to gentrification – he grapples with ways to express such messages by drawing from personal tastes and experiences.
Serge Gainsbourg is just one of many strands that make up Turner’s extensive list of influences, and maybe that’s why he’s been deemed the ‘Voice of The Generation’. He often dances around indirectness with intention, but his authenticity persists, peering through the curtain towards those who came before.
