Age of the Understatement

Miles Kane, lead singer of the Britpop band the Rascals joined forces with Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner to form the Last Shadow Puppets, a group whose music harks back to the keenly melodic symphonic pop of the 1960s. Kane and Turner cite early Bowie and Scott Walker among the influences for the Puppets, and those influences are prevalent, but one can hear even stronger traces of the Zombies and the Kinks.
The group's full-length debut, THE AGE OF THE UNDERSTATEMENT, marries a `60s Britpop aesthetic to lush atmospherics and arrangements, the latter partly thanks to the London Metropolitan Orchestra and string arranger Owen Pallette. The title track, "Calm Like You," and "Standing Next to Me" are highlights, but the whole of this evocative, immediately likeable album merits repeated listens.