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By: Dennis Cook
Rarely has 35 minutes felt longer. While one goes in with high hopes for anything involving Arctic Monkeys' main man Alex Turner, this is a classic example of young men overreaching. Inspired by Jacques Brel, Scott Walker, the florid end of early Bowie, solo Marc Almond and other "art" music, The Last Shadow Puppets finds Turner collaborating with pal Miles Kane of UK buzz band The Rascals (who have yet to release a full album despite the barrels of ink spilled) and orchestration wunderkind Owen Pallett (The Arcade Fire). Ambition can be swell but this is largely bloated, oppressive and not terribly engaging. Turner's cockney drawl works fine when he's spitting venom in clubland but here, emoting about "gush-in' sunsets," it's a bit like hearing Dick Van Dyke's chimney sweep performing Les Misérables. The few bright spots like the '60s production heavy mainstream pop stylings of "The Chamber" or the 5th Dimension swing of "Black Plant" can't mitigate the album/project's main defect, which is a muddled sense of self combined with a grandeur the songs can't live up to. Fans of overly swollen, romantic think exercises may take to this but the rest of us can just wait for Turner to strap on his electric guitar and get back to slapping around council flat life.
JamBase | U.K.
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