"I ain't quite where I think I am..."

Ever have one of those moments where you start listening to a song and you kind of recognise the voice but it just doesn't quite fit with the music you're hearing?

My friend Sarah introduced me to the Arctic Monkeys way back when she got their first album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" before they properly made it big. And then I kept up with them into the second album, but after that they drifted off my radar.

Coming back into listening in 2022 with "The Car" I realised I'd missed a lot. There was a whole musical journey that had gone on in the four albums in between! The voice was the same, but the rest of it left me thinking that I ain't quite where I think I am!

But that's not a bad thing! As much as I enjoyed the first album, the latest is just as good in an incomparable way.

Perhaps nothing to do with this song in particular, but I wonder if people spent some time with you after a while apart if they'd get the same impression that I had with this album? Has your journey changed you, or are you still producing the same stuff you were 16+ years ago?

I'm not the same. I have a similar voice, but I'm sure the flavour of the music I sing and the way I live, my rhythm of life, and the ultimate product is different. That's not that what I was before was entirely bad, but where I am now is good and where I need to be.

As for the song itself... Here are the lyrics that jumped out at me:

Blank expressions invite me to suspect
I ain't quite where I think I am...
I can see both islands now
From my vantage point

Some places people aren't ready for me, or I'm not ready for them... Sometimes I need to take stock of where I am and check the blank spaces. From there I may need to carry on or leave.

Two islands... Where I am is one, but what's the other? Is it where I COULD BE if I hadn't made the choice I've made to be where I am, or is it where I SHOULD BE?

​If I'm not quite where I think I am, what am I going to do about it?