#im reaaaally sorry for taking too much freedom with this sort of commentary

[alextturner]

pardon the rant, but all this hatred for what AM's new direction could be is getting terribly old to me lmao. One would think after Humbug you'd start to get the gist that this band is in no way here to settle for a single sound, genre or crowd, but apparently nope--

however a fanbase manages to eat up a project and digest it has nothing to do with the artists' stubbornness to plate it nicely. It is no secret that TBH&C was initially meant to be Alex's side solo project, and it were the rest of the boys who eventually wanted into the project after several talks (Middle8 covers this nicely on a video), but it is an AM project, and excelled as one- straying away from the dreaded fashion their previous records has put them on (AM, WPSIA, etc). This we know, but it's important. Important because all this talk where it is assumed that even the band lost love and care for the album is just... We're talking of a band with hundreds of songs under their sleeves, where 80% of them are hit after hit + one of Britain's biggest bands to date- and even worldwide. In their 2018 lives, at least 6 songs from the 20/18 played were TBH&C. This leaves space only for 3 more album plays, plus your obligatory don't-upset-the-crowd "R U Mine?'s, Brianstorm's and Crying Lightning's". Worthy reminding these guys are no longer 22 year old lads on the height of their fame, but a matured group with much more to ponder on than a fast paced guitar riff over a one-night-heartbreak lyric your angsty youth could grant. TBH&C may not have been everyone's cup of tea, but that was the very thought behind the record. It was a risky, strayed and matured album that would defy a new era, in every way a band can live one- lyrically, sonically and aesthetically. One's free to love or hate it, that's the beauty of it, to even dread something similar coming close. But if they so desire to venture into French music, new sound, so be it- with as many collabs or little as they desire. There's nothing a shallow complain can do to music, even here. Plus... plenty of rock n'roll in the world to ask such indomitable band to keep it in their pocket. (As if yelling "il y a des cactus" was all there was to French musicality!) They're no sell outs... Every tune's a risk because ultimately it's for them, not us.

(I'll add this, too. Once more... they're no 20 year old las. There's life behind them, homesickness, bad days, good days... If their stage presence one day doesn't feel like that of a 2008 AM show, it should surprise none. Heaven help us if artists are only to excel in exchange of a long held ideal or money)