Last Shadow Puppets Age Of The Understatement CD

Miles Kane, lead singer of the Britpop band the Rascals joined forces with Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner to form the Last Shadow Puppets, a group whose music harks back to the keenly melodic symphonic pop of the 1960s. Kane and Turner cite early Bowie and Scott Walker among the influences for the Puppets, and those influences are prevalent, but one can hear even stronger traces of the Zombies and the Kinks.

The group's full-length debut, THE AGE OF THE UNDERSTATEMENT, marries a `60s Britpop aesthetic to lush atmospherics and arrangements, the latter partly thanks to the London Metropolitan Orchestra and string arranger Owen Pallette. The title track, "Calm Like You," and "Standing Next to Me" are highlights, but the whole of this evocative, immediately likeable album merits repeated listens.

Following on from the release of lead single ‘Harvest (Within You)’, Clinc unleash their latest album ‘Visitations’. A unique and distinctive band who gather the wild, arcane and oddball and then combine them to create something always fresh, but strangely similar. The album was recorded in the band’s studio in the more godly climbs of Liverpool, produced by the band and mixed by old friend Gareth Jones, who worked with them on the seminal ‘Internal Wrangler’.

Audio Mixers: James Ford ; James Ford ; Richard Woodcraft.

Recording information: Black Box Studios, Angers, France; British Grove Studio, London, England; Rak Studios, London, England.

Arranger: Owen Pallett.Rolling Stone (p.67) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "While reverb-swathed acoustic guitars churn in minor keys against a backdrop of swooning strings, Turner croons midnight-of-the-soul confessions..."
Entertainment Weekly (p.65) - "Their debut boasts galloping rhythms and vibrato guitars...and lovely orchestrations that call to mind pop-melodrama king Scott Walker."
Q (Magazine) (p.125) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[E]xcellence is everywhere. On the whole, THE AGE OF THE UNDERSTATEMENT seems to be located in a twilit cityscape, awash with romantic disaster..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's a sumptuous record of drama and escape, mystery and romance. The two co-frontman sing in harmony over great swathes of velvet strings..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.73) - Ranked #2 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "[T]he songs were lifted above pastiche, to plant bittersweet 21st century tales onto sweeping symphonic canvases."
Clash (magazine) (p.62) - Ranked #40 in Clash's "The 40 Best Albums of 2008" -- "Grandly dramatic, warm, romantic and funny, THE AGE OF UNDERSTATEMENT is hopefully the first of many albums from the Puppets."