The Last Shadow Puppets - Age of the Understatement

Rating: 9/10
Best Track: "The Meeting Place"
Worst Track: "Calm Like You"
Label: Domino Records

It’s not often that rock albums get to be compared to Henry Mancini in a good way. Usually comparisons like that draw ire and make the group sound dated.

That isn’t at all what happens to The Last Shadow Puppets. Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys gets together perfectly with Miles Kane of The Rascals and The Little Flames to make an absolutely perfect bit gem of a record in The Age of the Understatement. This is how all side projects should sound.

The album opens with the bombastic title track that takes full advantage of the capabilities of the London Metropolitan Orchestra. Witty lyrics combine with film score-esque sounds to make a brilliant opener. The beat drives through the air at a maddening pace and the whole song feels like an epic dance track that no one can escape from. It’s lush and beautiful in many ways.

The rest of the album doesn’t keep the dynamism of the opener. Don’t take that as a bad thing. Turner and Kane trade the huge orchestral scores for more delicate but still pronounced brass and clarinet arrangements that give the whole vibe of 50’s movie sounds from guys like Henry Mancini combined with the British Invasion sound of The Zombies. Don’t read that as if only your grandparents will like it. The Last Shadow Puppets perfectly meld the old influences with cutting edge indie sounds. The production throughout is delightfully lo-fi and the vocals leave a lingering quality that is missing from most records today.

The Age of the Understatement never goes wrong. Turner and Kane masterfully pull off intricate string and wind arrangements and meld those intricate arrangements with ease into up-tempo British rock. “Standing Next to Me” takes on the feel of a ballroom dance track. “Separate and Ever Deadly” feels like a track culled from the Favourite Worst Nightmare recording sessions. No one has worked this well with an orchestra since Metallica put out S&M.

The real highlight is the refreshingly diminutive “The Meeting Place.” The rhythm is early ballroom swing with a slightly macabre feel to it. The vocals lilt and twist at perfect times. The string orchestra backing adds a hint of forlornness to the aching vocals. It’s perfect in every manner.

The Age of the Understatement pushes rock into a new direction by looking into the deep musical soul of the genre. It’s well-mannered yet still raucous. It’s well composed, yet still rough enough along the edges to please true rock fans. It’s a complex beauty that few bands, let alone side projects, have ever put together.

- Garrett Lyons

Last Shadow Puppets - The Meeting Place