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
Arctic Monkeys Luna recording sessions with Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age in early autumn, 2008, and 12 in the New York sessions with James Ford in spring, 2009, following their January tour of New Zealand and Australia. During this tour, lead single "Crying Lightning", along with "Humbug" songs "Pretty Visitors", "Dangerous Animals", and "Potion Approaching" (then known as "Go-Kart"), was debuted live. It was later revealed by Matt Helders in a video diary that the album would consist of 14 tracks and that Alex Turner would stay in New York to oversee the mixing of the material. However, the