★★★★½
The band may not have ‘matured’ per se, but there has definitely been an evolution since the debut of the Alex Turner and Miles Kane-led supergroup The Last Shadow Puppets.
In retrospect, their debut album The Age of Understatement now sounds like four English kids bashing around in the studio, Alex Turner’s voice only a ghost of the lush baritone drawl he has since grown into.
This latest album truly speaks for itself. In these 11 tracks are soaring, emphatic stringed sections, often passed off as exacerbated film sound effects, while the vocal harmony between Turner and Kane has improved tenfold.
Standout songs include ‘Miracle Aligner’, with its glacial strumming and catchy hook and ‘Bad Habits’, another stabbing, punkish gem and one of the more upbeat moments on the record. But none of this compares to the compelling vocals on ‘Sweet Dreams, TN’, a stunted ballad full of motive and grandeur. You’ve never heard Alex Turner like this, no matter how many Arctic Monkeys tracks you flash through.
Everything you’ve come to expect? In some ways, but even with a slight formula in place there are enough twists and turns to send its predecessor out of business.
