The Last Shadow Puppets: The Age of the Understatement [DOMINO]

Why you'll love it

Alex Turner and Miles Kane's lush, cinematic side project, with strings arranged by Canada's Owen Pallett, went to No. 1 in the UK.

This edition

• Original 2008 artwork, a Sam Haskins photograph
• Strings arranged by Owen Pallett

About the album

Imagine Scott Walker scoring a spaghetti western with two Liverpool and Sheffield lads on vocals, and you're close. In between Arctic Monkeys albums, Alex Turner teamed up with his friend Miles Kane of the Little Flames, and together they made a record of swooning, widescreen sixties pop.

James Ford produced it in Paris and London, and the sweeping strings were arranged by Toronto's own Owen Pallett and played by the London Metropolitan Orchestra. The title track gallops like a horseback chase, "Standing Next to Me" is a perfect two-and-a-half-minute pop song, and "My Mistakes Were Made for You" and "Calm Like You" swoon and swagger.

It earned a Mercury Prize nomination. Even the cover, a 1962 Sam Haskins photograph, nails the mood: cool, elegant and a little bit dangerous.

Also at Kops: more The Last Shadow Puppets on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Domino (cat# DNO 181), the 2008 album.