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Rating: To Alex Turner, the Arctic Monkeys are starting to feel, evidently, too limiting.
So what to do? At least for now, radically changing the sound of the parent band would be (perhaps) a suicidal move. So why not start a "parallel" band (considering the great success of similar projects, see Jack White and Brendan Benson's The Raconteurs)?
That's how Turner recruits his good friend Miles Kane, singer of the emerging indie rockers The Rascals (who are about to release their debut "Rascalize" on the upcoming ninth of June) and James Ford, producer of the acclaimed Monkeys debut as well as "Myths Of The Near Future" by the Klaxons and working on the new Scissor Sisters album, here as drummer and producer. The new "superband" is named "The Last Shadow Puppets" and the new album "The Age Of The Understatement" was recorded starting from August 2007 between France and native England.
The Morricone-like suggestions of the title track/single, or of pieces like "Only The Truth", immediately highlight their more "authorial" and less nervous and raw attitude compared to the guitar-based drunkenness of the first two "monkeys" works (especially the debut). Turner and Kane sing accompanied by an arrangement that couldn’t be more western, vaguely winking at the latest Muse's "Knights Of Cydonia", yet always maintaining their typical utterly British attitude; the elements described create a strange yet enjoyable sound mixture, pleasant overall in its undeniable originality. Highly appreciable are some more canonically "guitar pop" episodes like the upcoming single "Standing Next To Me", where the strings play a fundamental role (added during the album’s London recording session). The tracks flow briefly and compactly, and "five-star" references to songwriting masters like Bacharach inevitably come to mind (with all due and obvious proportions), especially when the trio emphasizes the pathos of the piece rather than its melodic immediacy (not to be missed in this sense "The Chamber", among the best things Turner has ever written). The Puppets' pop manages to be unusual and at the same time titillating, while always keeping in mind that these are still 22-year-olds dealing with countless influences, often tending to overdo it.
As the album tracks progress, the excellent Coral inevitably come to mind, especially when the tracks take a distinctly sixties turn, such as in "Black Plant" or "In My Room", the best in this sense; even a hilarious mix between Turner's parent band and James Skelly's emerges in "I Don't Like You Anymore".
So, a lot on the stove, and a Turner who demonstrates his desire not to be considered just a writer of quirky indie-brit rock bullets. Kane and Ford, then, fortunately prove to be two good and loyal travel companions.
Good performance; it remains to be seen what consequences this experience will have on new works by the Rascals and, above all, by the "arctic monkeys".
Key tracks: "Standing Next To Me", "The Chamber", "Black Plant", "I Don't Like You Anymore"
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 The Age of the Understatement (03:07)
Decided to sneak off away from your stomach
And try your pulse
They captured what seemed all unknowing
And candid but they suspected it
Was false
She's playful,
The boring would warn you
Be careful of her brigade
In order to tame this relentless marauder
Move away from the parade
She was walking on the tables
In the glasshouse,
Endearingly bedraggled in the wind,
Subtle in her method of seduction,
Twenty little tragedies begin
And she would throw her feather-boa in the road,
If she thought that it would set the scene,
Unfittingly dipped into your companions
Enlightened them to make you seeth
There's affection to rent,
The age of the understatement
Before the attraction ferments
Kiss me properly and pull me apart
There's affection to rent,
The age of the understatement
Before the attraction ferments
Kiss me properly and pull me apart
My fingers scratch at my hair before my mind
Can get too reckless
The idea of seeing you here is enough to make
The sweat go cold
02 Standing Next to Me (02:18)
Want her,have her...Two years have gone now
but I can't relate to the never ending games that you play
As desire passes through
then you're open to the truth
I hope you understand
and your love is standing next to me,
is standing next to me.
The one you fell for makes it seem juvenile
And you'll laugh at yourself again and again
And we'll drink to the thought
she'll remember you maybe tomorrow
And your love is standing next to me
is standing next to me,
and your love is standing next to me
is standing next to me
Want her,have her...Two years have gone now
but I can't relate to the never ending games that you play
As desire passes through
then you're open to the truth
I hope you understand
and your love is standing next to me,
is standing next to me...
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Other reviews
By jackas
They give them a couple of guitars, make them strum 4 specially crafted songs, and on April 21, 2008, they announce to the world the great joy: their unmissable album is out.
Absolutely to be avoided, even for Britpop and Arctic fans. Trust me, they're pulling one over on you!
By Jukan
Dreamy, intense, virile, and at times dark, 'The Age of Understatement' is a record where our puppets seem to become aware of their personal and artistic maturation.
It's a project that appeals to young people like me because it's totally alternative... but also to dads who have fond memories of the Beatles and Beach Boys.
By Poeta Maledetto
"The strings cradle us, the overlapping voices of Alex and Miles transport us to a 'Jamesbondian' world, between chases, beautiful women, and poker games in tuxedos."
"If you want to listen to something not too demanding, that will take you through half an hour without boring you, but rather, entertaining you and making you tap your feet, even the most fastidious, this album is for you."
