thelastshadowpuppets-theageoftheunderstatement music reviews Virgin Media
Arctic Monkeys singer tries on new style and finds it fits surprisingly well
They say it's good to think outside the box, and The Last Shadow Puppets is an act of prodigious blue-sky thinking by Alex Turner. In a radical departure from his day job fronting Britain's hippest post-Oasis rock band, the Arctic Monkeys singer has teamed up with one Miles Kane from Wirral group The Rascals to record a curious yet engaging side-project album that is heavily beholden to Jacques Brel, Roy Orbison and, overwhelmingly, Scott Walker.
And how well it works. These are big, vivacious, extravagant chansons infused with literate zeal and dramatic flourishes. The galloping, hyperventilating rhythms of both the title track and Standing Next To You suggest the theme from Rawhide infused with a poetic brio, while My Mistakes Were Made For You is as sumptuous a doomed-love song as Walker ever concocted. It's a revelation: while most side-projects are indulgent trifles, here is one impressive piece of Monkey business.
More to try:
Scott Walker: Scott 2
Jacques Brel: Jacques Brel et ses Chansons
Jack: Pioneer Soundtracks
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