Information about 'AM7' has been leaking out of Suffolk farmhouse Instagrams and non-committal interviews. The allure of the enigma is irresistible.
The Elden Ring Method has become well-known among hype-mongers. You keep quiet about a significant project for years, until desperate fans believe it's been canceled – say, a collaboration between the creators of the beat-your-ass-blue Dark Souls video game series and Game Of Thrones writer George R. R. Martin. They'll eventually start looking for the slightest easter egg suggestion that anything is going on, as if the internet were one gigantic Marvel teaser.
Leaked internal mockups of boss designs; blurry pictures of menu panels in the background of esoteric developer webinars; Hidetaka Miyazaki TikToked in a public restroom, spewing a morse coded release date in his farts. The public has worked itself into a froth of expectation equal to that around Prince Andrew's extradition by the time you're ready to actually announce anything, and the stupid thing sells itself.
The Elden skills are obviously mastered by Arctic Monkeys. Back in January, drummer Matt Helders discreetly indicated that preparations for a seventh album were in the works, followed by 11 months of stillness. The only 'announcement' as such occurred in August from the Instagram account of Butley Priory, a Suffolk farmhouse where the owners – who probably never got the NDA through – declared:
“We’ve had a band staying for the last month recording an album. Musicians love the acoustics in the Great Hall and Drawing room, with their high vaulted ceilings. Being serenaded while watering and weeding the garden, listening to the double bass, drums and piano wafting out of the open double doors was pretty nice. Thank you Arctic Monkeys.”
