#11: The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement (2008)

1. The Age Of The Understatement
2. Standing Next To Me
3. Calm Like You
4. Separate And Ever Deadly
5. The Chamber
6. Only The Truth
7. My Mistakes Were Made For You
8. Black Plant
9. I Don't Like You Anymore
10. In My Room
11. The Meeting Place
12. Time Has Come Again

In what's either a demonstration of the latent effects of 'Monkey Mania' or an uncharacteristic demonstration of taste by the British public at large, this album went to number one in the UK charts today. What better time to dive into the pleasures of this collaboration between Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane (The Rascals)?

---

At first glance, it sounds like the ultimate in throwaway whimsey: Two best mates head off to France for a couple of weeks to record an album, then get Arcade Fire's Owen Pallet to arrange and conduct an orchestra over the whole thing. But to look at it like that would be to ignore the vision behind the record and the care that's gone into it: Any dread that may be inspired by the phrase 'side-project' should categorically be put aside when listening to this record.

The album's opening gambit is a bold one, with titular track 'The Age Of The Understatement' sounding like The Coral collaborating with the London Metropolitan Orchestra to cover 'Knights Of Cydonia', while Turner's lyrics seem to invite a doomed romance: "Before this attraction ferments, kiss me properly and pull me apart." It's very much a statement of intent: A sweeping, bombastic tune that's over in a punchy three minutes, it's epic without being overwrought.

'Standing Next To Me' sees Turner and Kane nail their vocal harmonies exceptionally over an upbeat acoustic guitar strum, while the strings tastefully rise and fall at all the right moments. 'Calm Like You', meanwhile, shows from the very first line that Turner maintains his brilliant lyricism even outside of the context of his 'day job'. "I can still remember when your city smelt exciting: I still get a wiff of that aroma now and then," he sings wistfully, a perfect intro to the track's orchestral pop sensibilities. Later in the album, 'In My Room' combines these sensibilities with organ sounds borrowed straight from the 60's, while 'Only The Truth' starts out with a staccato vocal and drum combo before returning to the spaghetti-western style of the opener, galloping through its tale of a femme fatale ("Don't give her an eye or she'll sniper your mind!") in less than two minutes before breaking down into a squall of guitars, horns and strings.

Like many classic pop albums, the themes of love and loss run throughout the album. 'The Chamber' sees proceedings take a fragile, melancholy turn, with Turner advising a former lover to "Leave yourself alone." And while 'My Mistakes Were Made For You' may begin with the lyric "About as subtle as an earthquake, I know," it actually turns out to be one of the album's most tastefully restrained moments, with Turner's plaintive vocal taking centre stage before the sweeping orchestration gradually builds up to a poignant climax. This trick is repeated again on 'Black Plant', only this time it's a soaring string line that takes the lead in a tale of a boy "Who got papercuts from the love letters you never gave him."

It's not all sentimentality though, and the album certainly demonstrates a dark side at times. 'Separate And Ever Deadly' starts with a Tango-like beat before rapid-fire guitars that wouldn't be out of place on an Arctic Monkeys track kick in, while 'I Don't Like You Anymore' is the album's most sinister moment, with reverberating minor-key guitars matched with a pair of contrasting vocals: Turner's sounding ghostly and distant, while Kane's sound distorted, bitter and angry.

The album ends with two contrastingly tender tracks that demonstrate the breadth of The Last Shadow Puppets' ambition. 'The Meeting Place' is the album's most grandiose classic pop moment, with the orchestration sounding at its most epicly upbeat as the duo sing "I'm sorry I met you darling: I'm sorry I've left you." At the opposite end of the scale is 'Time Has Come Again', with Turner's melancholy vocals set starkly over a simple acoustic guitar line, before the strings rise calmly in the background, tugging at the heartstrings without ever overwhelming the song as a whole.

It's amazing how epic these songs manage to sound despite the fact they never extend past the four minute mark. As a whole, The Age Of The Understatement is an unashamedly grand pop album, updated with a modern twist thanks to Turner's trademark lyricism. Far more than simply a tribute to an era of music gone by, and certainly not a half-arsed joke between a couple of friends, this record shows that Alex Turner's vision extends far beyond sweaty dancefloors on a Friday night.