It
has been eight years since The Last Shadow Puppets released their debut album The Age of the Understatement. To give
you some perspective, in the time between these two albums Miley Cyrus has gone
from being a cute country-singer and TV-starlet on the Disney Channel to the
weed-smoking, everything-exposing artist twerking on Robin Thicke. The long break is supposedly because one half
of the superduo, namely Alex Turner, was busy becoming one of the biggest rock
stars alive today with his main project, the Artic Monkeys. At the same time Miles
Kane, the other half of this bromance, dedicated himself to his solo career.
Have these eight years matured these two or are they still the same kind of
brash, track-suit wearing, sex-crazed brits they were back in 2008 and have
the twelve tracks been worth the almost decade long wait?
As soon as the first track Aviation starts, one thing is clear,
this is not just a Turner & Kane show. The first orchestrated long notes on
the strings and the following intro by the bass and drums show that there is
some serious talent featured here. All of these instruments continue throughout
the song, and the whole album really, to create a really nice flow to accompany
Turner and Kane’s vocals. And oh my what great vocals they are! Turner coming
in with his trademark smoky Sheffield accent with Kane lending a helping hand
while playing the guitar hints at what one can expect from the coming tracks –
sex, psychedelia and seduction. Going from the almost western-like Aviation to Miracle Liner might be a bit of a suprise for some. The moment it
starts, you can feel the influence the Beatles and beat music in general has
had on these songwriters. You could almost be forgiven if you mistake the
opening few seconds with, for example, the Beatles’ Flying off their 1967 album. The track soon
simmers down though and Miracle Liner
shows its true colors as a soul-pop track but still managing to stay upbeat and
different. Things now take a turn for the even soulier with Dracula Teeth. What really makes this
track is everything going on behind the vocals, from the winding strings to the
funky bassline and effects later added on.
Everything
You’ve Come To Expect, is where things start to unravel a bit. The song
after which the album is named is on its own, quite an odd duck. Without the
words, it would make an alright psychedelic track, with the whole composition
having an organ playing throughout the song and the other instruments playing
around this creating this almost minimalist sounding track. With the added
vocals though, this song really gives us a glimpse into the lives of these
playboyesque young lads and how it is not all fun and games. The Element of Surprise is quite aptly
named, because the last thing you would expect after the slowly winding Everything You’ve Come To Expect is a
seemingly happy-go-lucky kind of track featuring some really well played
strings. When you actually listen to the song it becomes apparent that the boys
are not alright and have some real issues with their love lives. If the
previous tracks hadn’t made it clear enough that this album is inspired heavily
by the music of the 70s then Bad Habits makes
it real clear with the tambourine, plucky bassline and long, distorted guitar
riffs. This is also the track where Miles Kane can step out of the shadow of
Alex Turner for a bit and actually showcase his own vocals. His voice is
raspier than Turner’s and seems to be a better fit for Bad Habits which seems to be tailor-made for Kane.
On Sweet Dreams, TN Turner is back at it with full force... well half
force really, because every syllable of every word is elongated and boy oh boy
how does it work. This song is all about how Turner’s fallen hopelessly for a
girl and now seems to be floating through this psychedelic world in a haze of
sex and love-crazed existence. Where Kane was the perfect man for Bad Habits, Turner really brings his own
on this track with the long reverberant notes and slight distortion in his
voice. The aftermath of Sweet Dreams, TN
seems to be apparent on Used To Be My
Girl. If Sweet Dreams, TN was a track about falling head-over-heels in love
then this song is about what happens when the psychedelic feeling of first
falling in love runs out and you wake up in the morning, see her lying next to
you and realize what a mistake you have made. The vocals here also have an
uncanny resemblance to Muse’s Knights of
Cydonia but this might be just because in addition to the vocals sounding
similarly and echoing and dream-like, both songs have a certain western vibe to
them. One of the more candid songs on the album is She Does The Woods. To put it simply, the song is about coitus in
the wilderness. Theme aside, the song feels lazy and kind of shoehorned in just
so Turner and Kane can gloat about how much tail they are getting and the
redeeming factor of this track seems to be what the band is doing behind the
vocals.
Pattern
is a lovely example of how orchestration can help out a simple rock track and
make it become something much more wholesome. Although the track is not much
when considering what came before it, it is a great example of why Turner and
Kane work so well together because on Pattern their voices are so well
intertwined and are almost able to create this third vocalist in a sense. On The Dream Synopsis we are right back
where we were on Sweet Dreams, TN,
only in a more reminiscing tone and a more melancholic mood. Now that the album
is drawing to an end Turner seems to be doing the same, talking about how him,
Miles Kane and this girl used to bomb down a neighbourhood in Los Angeles and
tying up loose ends. It makes sense that the albums closing tracks would also
talk about L.A. since Turner moved there when the Arctic Monkeys hit it big and
Kane followed soon after. The last track of the album is The Bourne Identity and as a track it doesn’t really stand out from
the rest in any particular way, it is a song about Turner tryong to redeem
himself in the eyes of the listener. He tries to make you see him as the
downtrodden victim of his own fame and what it has done to him but this raises
a question of whether or not these tracks have been created by his real self or
the famous rockstar he has become in the eyes of everyone. As for the track as
a closing track it does a good job of creating this atmosphere where Turner and
Kane seem to be just riding off into the sunset but looking back at you at the
last moment to give you hope that they will return one day.
So, in the end the album does not
disappoint with both Miles Kane and Alex Turner still being on top of their
game lyrically and instrumentally. There hasn’t really been any development
artistically in the last eight years, both men continuing to do what they did
back then but with a bit more polish and a bigger ensamble. And what an
ensamble it is! They deserve as much praise, if not more, than the lead lads,
because without the help of Owen Pallett on the strings and Zach Dawes on the
bass this album would have been 40 minutes of generic alternative rock. All
that we can now hope for is that Turner and Kane haven’t really ridden off into
the sunset for another eight years after this album.
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