Last Shadow Puppets Everything You’ve Come To Expect

A lot has happened since we last heard from The Last Shadow Puppets. David Cameron somehow stumbled to power (twice), Will and Kate not only tied the knot but took the time to consummate it (at least twice), Kim Jong-il counted his last sheep and Edward Snowden moved to Russia. Alex Turner’s Arctic Monkeys also released a trio of LPs (and went into hiatus), while fellow puppet, Miles Kane, put together two (much less good) albums of his own. Fair play to all of them.

The conventional narrative will of course go that Turner dropped off his starch-collared leather jacket in the cloakroom for safekeeping while he dons something a little lighter. In reality, however, ‘Everything You’ve Come To Expect’ could quite easily be the follow-up to Arctic Monkey’s ‘AM’ from 2014 or Kane’s slightly older half-sibling ‘Don’t Forget Who You Are’. The obsession with ’50s rock’n’roll and rockabilly continues, while the doo-wop and baroque pop of the group’s debut is dusted off again so that it feels, ultimately, like much less than eight years have passed.

It is, nonetheless, a solid collection of songs and should be judged as such. ‘Miracle Aligner’ and ‘The Element Of Surprise’ with their ’60s funk and soul cues, are standouts while ‘Sweet Dreams, TN’ could pass for Roy Orbison until Turner’s 21st century South Yorkshire take on romance wakes you up with a jolt: “Everyone seems like a dick without you, baby.” Awww.