Perhaps unsurprisingly, the new artwork for Arctic Monkeys album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is derived from sci-fi origins.
Frontman Alex Turner, who has already explained in some depth that the record has been inspired by his new-found fascination with science fiction, has explained how the visuals have derived from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Having designed the work himself, Turner detailed the origins of the Stanley Kubrick inspired work, he said: “The album artwork started from a picture that I saw of someone in the art department of 2001: A Space Odyssey, building the set for the Hilton on the moon,” in an interview with Radio X. “At this point, we’d already decided to call the album ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’, so we began to think of things that may be in the lobby of this place,” continued.
“The thing that I became most obsessed with that there was a model of the place inside the lobby. That’s where I focused most of my attention and time, not figuring out what the place itself looked like, but what the model of the place in the lobby would. I made the model,” he continued.
“It’s made of illustration board with a bit of dowel for supports. I sat it on top of a tape machine. The tape on the machine sitting underneath has the album on it, or an earlier version of it. Which seemed to make it all make sense to me.
“I was driving back from the art supply shop and I saw a rotating sign – of which there are many in Los Angeles – and this one was outside a place called House Of Pies, which I’ve actually never been inside. I ought to really – I think we can all agree on that. I thought this place should have a rotating sign like House Of Pies.”
