The Last Shadow Puppets

Alex Turner’s career has hardly been one of understatement. In Arctic Monkeys, the 22-year-old wunderkind has found fame, acclaim and overall celebrity, making him more disposed to rock’n’roll excess than its reserve. It’s with total irony then that the debut by the Last Shadow Puppets, his new collaboration with Rascals front-man Miles Kane, has been titled The Age of the Understatement. From start to finish, the album pulls larger-than-life compositions from pop’s rich back catalogue, reaching for all the epic grandeur of the duo’s newfound muse: Scott Walker. Like the one-time ’60s teen idol, reverb swathed production and mammoth symphony arrangements play key roles in the Last Shadow Puppets, with Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford behind the boards and Final Fantasy string-master Owen Pallet leading an impressive 22-piece orchestra. On the vocal front, however, Turner and Kane stray far from Walker’s crooner territory, as they pack in the drama with rousing harmonies that keep the pair’s usual bratty grit. Packaged up, The Age of the Understatement successfully becomes one striking overstatement.