Alex Turner with Judan Suki at Sheffield's 2fly Studios, Turner asked Alan Smyth if he would produce an Arctic Monkeys demo. Smyth obliged and "thought they definitely had something special going on. I told Alex off for singing in an American voice at that first session." An introduction by Smyth led to the band acquiring a management team, Geoff Barradale and Ian McAndrew. They paid for Arctic Monkeys to record numerous three-song demos in 2003 and 2004. Barradale drove the band around venues in Scotland, the Midlands, and the north of England to establish their reputation as a live band. They handed
Alex Turner released in May 2018. After receiving a Steinway Vertegrand piano as a 30th birthday present from his manager, Turner wrote the space-themed album from the perspective of "a lounge-y character". Having written "the most straight-up love letters" of his career on "Everything You've Come to Expect", he felt ready to explore wider themes. He recorded demos at home, and shared them with Cook in early 2017. Cook was initially taken-aback by the change in direction: "It took a few listens to even begin to, like… But I don’t think any of us wanted to make an "AM, Part Two", so