The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age of the Understatement
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Rolling Stone Rating: 0
As the leader of Britain's Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner creates spiky neo-post-punk that avoids any revivalist fuddy-duddyism. But Turner's new side project, a collaboration with Miles Kane of Merseyside indie-poppers the Rascals, is a shameless nostalgia trip — and it's still compelling. Their debut pays homage to the moody symphonic sound of early David Bowie, Lee Hazlewood and other stars of the late Sixties and early Seventies. While reverb-swathed acoustic guitars churn in minor keys against a backdrop of swooping strings, Turner croons midnight-of-the-soul confessions: It's torture/Locked inside the chamber/Cornered by yourself. The band cribs every string-orchestra glissando and flash of dissonance from cult singer Scott Walker's book, but the fierceness of the music — and of Turner's voice — makes the old moves sound fresh. In Separate and Ever...
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