The Last Shadow Puppets are Alex Turner (from Arctic Monkeys) and Miles Kane (from The Rascals). Firm friends ever since Arctic Monkeys toured with Kane's previous group, The Little Flames, the pair were so inspired by listening to the likes of Scott Walker, early Bowie and David Axelrod, that they hatched a plan. The result, The Age Of The Understatement, is an album of 12 full-blooded songs, bold and brassy, full of drama, wit and melody, that source the past but avoid falling into pastiche. Both Miles and Alex are 22, and this is a youthful record, full of life and the sheer pleasure of music making. The Last Shadow Puppets recorded the songs at Black Box studios near Nantes, France in two weeks during the summer of 2007, with producer and drummer James Ford. The band then approached Owen Pallett to arrange and conduct the orchestration of the tracks, which...