Alex Turner with Dev Hynes for a one-off show in London and recorded a spoken word track "A Choice of Three" for Helders' compilation album "". Turner has described Arctic Monkeys' third album, "Humbug", released in August 2009, as "a massive turning point" in the band's career. They travelled to Joshua Tree, California to work with producer Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, and explored a heavier sound. While Petridis of "The Guardian" found some lyrics "too oblique to connect", he was impressed by the band's "desire to progress". He described "Cornerstone" as a "dazzling display of what Turner can
Alex Turner did not read regularly and was too self-conscious to share his writing with others. Nonetheless, he enjoyed English lessons. His teacher, Simon Baker, later remembered him as a clever pupil who was "quite reserved ... a little bit different." He noted that Turner had an "incredibly laid-back" approach to school work, which worried his mother. Turner then spent two years at Barnsley College (2002–2004), where he studied for A-levels in music technology and media studies, and AS-levels in English, photography and psychology. After watching friends perform in local bands, Turner, Helders, Nicholson and another friend, Jamie Cook, decided to form