Everything
you’ve come to expect.
The Last
Shadow Puppets deliver nothing less but a whole lot more. They’ve sure changed
since the baby faced first album some 8 years ago. Both have achieved great
things in the time they were apart creatively and it has culminated in a humdinger
of an album. A no skip album.
The British
gent suits have been replaced with open shirts, bare chests and gold chains and
I dare say that they have found what they should be, producing shoot from the
hip, slick and greasy, 60’s and 70’s influenced sounds. There was critical
acclaim for Age of The Understatement with its string accompanied serenades and
powerful lyrics. It’s possible this album won’t get the same amount of acclaim with
some music writers calling it “more of an in-joke than a band”.
Sure.
Miles Kane and
Alex Turner are close and are creating something they want to hear and want to
share. What’s wrong with that? Miles Kane is far more prominent in this album
than the first and we can be grateful for that. His guitar playing adds an edge
to the album and allows Alex to focus on his singing, which has come along no end.
Songs like Sweet Dreams, TN show just how powerful a set of pipes he has,
creeping through the words and jumping out for a huge finish with very minimal
music behind it which adds to the beauty of the track and makes it my favourite
off the album.
The musical
craft on each song offers something different which keeps everything interesting.
A luscious guitar riff on Aviation will have you humming it for days and for me
takes from Arctics song My Propeller as it uses simple guitar to create a
complex song. Dream Synopsis is a journey through the mind of Alex Turner to LA
via Sheffield in the form of a jazz club house band. It’s a guitar down and mic
up kind of album for Turner and you get the feeling that’s exactly what he
wants with his loose hips and wandering hands.
The album
offers up of a double bill of melancholic ballads with songs like “Miracle
Aligner” and “The Element of surprise”. Both could easily have been pulled from
a Lou Reed album and offer the best of the strings.
I read
recently that Bad Habits was essentially a jam with Miles Kane going with what
words came out and lasted around 45 minutes. This was whittled down for the
album and offers a little rock relief which Kane gets to vent on and keeps on chugging
with a chunky bass line and sharp strings.
The album
is a sepia serenade with the sunset in the background, a midnight drive round a
mountain side and the little umbrella in a cocktail all rolled together. They
kept the strings but took everything else in a different direction and found
songs of love, lust and lavish lifestyle.
Regardless
of some of the bad press they have had, strip away the joking interviews, the
LA tan, the gold rings and loafers and what you’re left with is a damn good
album. They have bucked the trend of old friends sharing some nostalgia and
gone full throttle down the highway to something fresh, something that the
charts don’t see anymore. I’d rather not wait another 8 years for the next
album but if it is even better than this one, it will be absolutely worth it.
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HepkattFM
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