It feels like your entrance just caused the temperature to rise

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

Alreet...

Nah then. 

I grew up when the boardwalk was still the place to be to see the upcoming bands in Sheffield. One of the best exports has undoubtedly been the Arctic Monkeys. They've gone from track suits to church suits but the message stays the same. 

I wrote this review at the time AM was released. 

Enjoy ah kid.

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This is Chip Shops and Chardonnay; Sean Bean and Motorcycles, truly rock and roll with the lights off. AM is a long way from the Boardwalk but this still feels like a new beginning, a new twist on the Arctic trail.

Do I Wanna Know sets the scene as it seduces you with it's swaying riff and electronic drum heartbeat. It feels like a your listening to a Turner monologue whilst star gazing through an electric guitar. If this sets you up then R U MINE? knocks you out.

From the moment it kicks in you're hooked. The lyrics are both brilliant and brave as it feels set in reverse " I'm a puppet on a string, Tracey Island: Lone ranger riding". If a song had a dress sense R U MINE is in leather and shades and not taking them off to go indoors. Helders screeches in the background, linking with Turner as they quip "oh ahh" in the middle of a blatant rock song.

This slinks into One For The Road where the whole thing feels like you're watching Turner put the moves on a dame in a Jazz Club; the music is splashy and the drinks are free. The whole feel of the album is progression, you know there are songs waiting in the wings that didn't make the first team like "you're so dark" which could have easily made the cut but the balance feels right.

This is shown perfectly by the next track on the album Arabella. The start of this track is pure rock in its most subtle and yet glaringly obvious form. The way the drums are simple and yet pierce through, the guitar that skittles across the track, tip-toeing to the chorus where you are slapped in the face with the cosmic call of Sabbath style riffing. This is supposedly based on Turners girlfriend and what wouldn't be to like about a girl with Gator skin boots who smokes organic cigarettes.

Whilst this album is about growth (the only thing that has moved back is each members hair with the help of a tub of hair gel) they also point to their influences and give them a tip of the hat. Mad Sounds, a song that sounds straight out of Costellos back catalogue, (possibly because his own drummer Pete Thomas is on this one) is taken from early Arctics producer Alan Smyths original song. Then there is the much more on the nose use of I Wanna Be Yours plucked from John Cooper Clarke. This gives the record a route home from the States with lines such as "I wanna be your leccy meter, that you get cold without".

The Sheffield group were given plenty of help from friends old and new with people like Bill Ryder-Jones (ex-Coral) creating the melancholy solo in Fireside,which is backed by the 70's style backing of "shoo op, shoo op". Josh Homme a familiar face to these now belts out of 30 seconds of high pitched melody in Knee Socks and lends his voice to One for the Road.

The first single released from this album that set everyone up to AM was the R&B influenced Why Do You Only Call Me When You're High? Turner strolls though this like a trip down memory lane and the groove of the track simply chases him with Helders cracking backing in tow.

The record is kept moving throughout with tracks like I Want It all which features rising guitar only topped by the height of the vocals. No 1 Party Anthem in which you hear Turner talking about parties previous " Sunglasses in doors, par for the course" and Snap Out Of It which feels ultimately like a song from the back end of the 60's. 

This is still Rock and Roll but written by Dr Dre on the wall of the Leadmills bathroom. This record is a cosmic shot of adrenaline to those who had fallen out of love with the Arctics. Put on your leathers, turn off the lights, hold on and ride the AM Helter Skelter.

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HepkattFM