The Englishmen descend on California with a smokier, dusky sound on Humbug—a clear influence of co-producer Josh Homme. The band’s usual sharp, spiky guitar riffs turn woozy and sludgy, as if melted by the sun, while beats plod heavily and keyboards squirm underneath the fuzzy rock of "Crying Lightning" and on "Potion Approaching," in which Alex Turner transforms from his cool crooner self to a desert-traipsing Jim Morrison. Elsewhere, James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco preserves the band's crisper, dancier inclinations with psychedelic nugget "Secret Door."