If Liverpool’s The Rascals were better known, as it is they’re yet to release their debut album, this collaboration between their lead singer Miles Kane and Arctic Monkeys front man Alex Turner, wouldn’t be described as a Turner side project. Rather it would be heralded as a supergroup. For the implication is that the king of the Monkeys, like some kind of muse, encouraged the slightly younger Rascal to explore his record collection.

The truth is somewhat different. As Kane and Turner bonded over their mutual love of the likes of Scott Walker, early Bowie, and David Axelrod when Kane supported Artic Monkeys with his former band, The Little Flames. And according to Alex, this album is “a third of tunes we did completely together. Then a third of his ones which we finished off together and then a third that were mine which we finished off.”

Where the opening title track smacks of an original effort by the pair, the origin of the remaining songs is difficult to pinpoint. Which suggests The Last Shadow Puppets have a future rather than being a one-off proposition. One as a downsized British version of the Raconteurs, although Owen Pallett arranged and conducted the orchestration of the tracks, calling on the services of the 22-piece London Metropolitan Orchestra in the recording process.

(4/5)