It was produced by longtime collaborator James Ford and co-produced by Ross Orton at Sage & Sound Recording in Los Angeles and Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, California, and released on 9 September 2013 through Domino Recording Company.

The band incorporated new instruments on the album, including the piano, organ, Hohner Guitaret, and vintage drum machine.

In an interview with Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner said that the album title was inspired by the Velvet Underground's 1985 compilation album VU: "I actually stole it from the Velvet Underground, I'll just confess that now and get it out of the way.

"[5] Speaking about Josh Homme's contribution to AM with Zane Lowe, Turner said: "The Josh thing was very much a case of one of us returning a back scratch to the other", referring to his appearance as a guest vocalist on the Queens of the Stone Age album ...Like Clockwork earlier in 2013.

[6] On 4 July 2013, Homme mentioned AM at the Rock for People festival in the Czech Republic: "I sang on the new Arctic Monkeys record.

[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] In the first interview of the AM press campaign, Alex Turner told journalist Matt Wilkinson of NME that the album sounded "like a Dr. Dre beat, but we've given it an Ike Turner bowl-cut and sent it galloping across the desert on a Stratocaster", adding that it "sounds less like four lads playing in a room this time.

The band incorporated new instruments to record the album; they used keyboards such as piano, organ, and celeste, a Hohner Guitaret,[21] and a vintage drum machine.

[21] Guest musicians Josh Homme, Bill Ryder-Jones, and Pete Thomas were featured on the album.

The next year, the band shared a short documentary film via their YouTube channel to mark the end of the tour in its South American leg, featuring a performance of "R U Mine?"

[30] On 21 April 2012, it was released physically for the Record Store Day as a limited edition double A-side purple 7" vinyl.

It was certified Silver in the UK, indicating an excess of 200,000 sales (becoming the fourth Arctic Monkeys single to do so), and has also been successful internationally.

[37] The fourth single to promote the album, "One for the Road", was released as a digital download and 7" vinyl on 9 December 2013.

[40] It impacted contemporary hit radio on the scheduled date,[41] though a planned 7" vinyl release was cancelled.

[42] "Snap Out of It" impacted contemporary hit radio[clarification needed] in the United Kingdom on 9 June 2014 as the album's sixth single.

[46] Simon Harper of Clash magazine states: "Welding inspiration from hip-hop greats with rock's titans, AM is built upon portentous beats that are dark and intimidating, yet wickedly thrilling.

"[12] Ray Rahman of Entertainment Weekly gave it an 'A−', and opined that "AM mixes Velvet Underground melodies, Black Sabbath riffs, and playful grooves, and has fun doing it.

"[14] Tim Jonze of The Guardian noted that the album "manages to connect those different directions – the muscular riffs of Humbug and the wistful pop of Suck It and See – with the bristling energy and sense of fun that propelled their initial recordings.

"[50] Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic agreed, stating, "Neatly splitting the difference between the band's two personalities -- the devotees of barbed British pop and disciples of curdled heavy rock -- AM consolidates Arctic Monkeys strengths, a tricky task in and of itself, but the band pushes further, incorporating unapologetic glam stomps, fuzzy guitars, and a decidedly strong rhythmic undercurrent.

"[15] In his review of the album, Matt Mason of Q gave it 4 out of 5 stars and wrote: Not afraid to explore but never radical for the sake of it, the Arctic Monkeys have delivered another triumph.

Some of their iridescent energy has been tempered by age, but it's been replaced by the craft and confidence that made their [2013's] Glastonbury set so compelling.

[53]In retrospect, NME classified AM's songs as "the tales of wasted phone calls, drunken lunges and late-night confessions.

"[56] By the end of the decade, according to NME, the album "became the soundtrack for countless nights out, hook-ups and comedowns in every town and city of this country".

[62] The magazine also announced its list of 50 Best Albums of 2013, with AM taking the top spot: "AM felt like a genuine evolution for the Monkeys, and one that wasn't without risk.

"[65] 17 music journalists of the Polish media company Agora SA (Gazeta Wyborcza, Gazeta.pl, TOK FM) placed AM at number two in their ranking of 10 Best Foreign Albums of 2013, behind Arcade Fire's Reflektor.

[84] AM peaked at number one in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Croatia, Slovenia, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Portugal, and reached top ten positions in several other countries.