Vocalist Alex Turner is most definitely the centrepiece of this group and remained the locus of the lion’s share of my attention throughout a couple rotations of this, their fourth record. His contribution to the fray, both lyrically and in terms of his delivery, is attention-grabbing in ways that the music simply couldn’t match. Turner’s keen eye for the ironic and deft hand at spinning unique turns of phrase often had me zoning out of the ruckus of the instrumentation and listening singularly to his lyrics. That’s not to say that the music itself is unaccomplished. There are supple grooves spanning the recording, the drum work and bass lines find their feet comfortably and are on occasions exceptional. The guitars jangle a bit much for my sensibilities, the Britpop edge being a little overwrought. However, sometimes a melodic line breaks free and soars over and above everything else, shimmering proudly. Overall, not sure I’ll be coming back to this album all too often except perhaps to remind myself of particularly memorable phrases crooned out by Mr Alex Turner.
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