Alone Again Or .. Not alone at all. That is the question.
For all those who missed out on David Axelrod’s sweeping orchestral arrangements and Scott Walker’s even sweepier sexual dramas in all their frilly, baroque gargantuaness, then this delightful little time-capsule of brassy and affectionate tributes from Messrs Turner and Kane should fill you in quite nicely.
Recorded during a frantic two-week fit of blazing, theatrical romance at Black Box Studios near Nantes in France, ‘The Age Of Understatement’ combines all the furtive, trolley thieving antics of Turner’s Arctic Monkeys, the lyrical hardcore goth of Kane’s Rascals, shitloads of strings and horns and crafts something, that whilst not entirely original, fleshes out the usual bones of pastiche with enough lusty vigour to put hairs on the chests of pimply young teens everywhere. Sure, it’s arranger Owen Pallett’s 22 piece London Metropolitan Orchestra that really breathes life into these crude yet occasionally tender sketches of love, loss and secateurs, but what makes it work are the usual smart-arse one liners from Turner and the pair’s peculiar disregard for the rule book.
The kitchen-sink is still there but now it’s got some fancy drainers, mats and shit to make it look nice. If Scott Walker had set his heaving and his frankly less than understated narratives around the back of the local Threshers rather than around some lovely Parisian terrace, this is what it might have sounded like.
Remember those soaring string arrangements and Mariachi horns Dave Angel poured over Love’s ‘Forever Changes’ album? Well it’s like that. Only with more tits than Tijuana.