Michael Braun's Blog

As usual, I’m behind the times on up-and-coming bands. The Last Shadow Puppets released their full length debut, The Age of the Understatement, in March of 2008. And oddly enough, I discovered the existence of this band while reading comments on a review of Arctic Monkey’s latest release. LSP is a collaboration between Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys and Miles Kane of the Rascals. And it’s a fabulous record.

I don’t know how they figured to create their sounds (lots of sixties pop, Beatles, Bowie, et cetera), but they’ve got a unique yet familiar sound and demands to be listened to again and again. I’m on my tenth go-round and I bought the album just two days ago. The songs have a Serge Gainsbourg cool, with Bowie quality lyrics, and occasional Bond-theme romp and mystery. The record is unmistakably British, which I think is a good thing.

The lyrics are where the record goes from fun to excellent. Maybe there’s too much pretension in some of the lines, but I was blown away by the poetry of lines like these from the first verse of “Calm Like You.”

I can still remember when your city smelt exciting.
I still get a whiff of that aroma now and then.
Burglary and fireworks,
The skies they were alighting.
Accidents and toffee drops
And thinking on the train.

Then there’s the delivery – often sung by both Turner and Kane for some really excellent, beautifully understated harmony. In fact, even with the lush production, you can strip these songs down and they would still be absolutely beautiful.

If I have one wish for the record it would be for slower tempos. The songs really are gorgeous with strong melodies. Slowing them down would allow that to come out even more. That’s what makes the last track so beautiful – one acoustic guitar, vocals with slight reverb and echo like singing in an empty chamber hall, and a beautiful slow song. I get through that song and then the album queues up again and I’m back listening to the whole thing again. Here’s to another listen through.