“Sophistication” has always been the selling point of Arctic Monkey Alex Turner’s side project with Miles Kane, for which read “60s strings”. Their second album fulfils the premise of its title with more ravishing arrangements by Owen Pallett, while leaning less on the Scott Walker/Morricone stylings that gave their 2008 debut a whiff of pastiche. The impression that Turner and Kane are soundtracking some kind of ironic double-bro-seven flick in their heads remains, however (not eased by Kane’s recent sleazy behaviour towards a female journalist), only partly tempered by Turner’s nuanced lyrics. Also nagging is the feeling that even the best tracks (the dreamy Miracle Aligner, despite the winces caused by “get down on your knees again” and “go and get ‘em tiger”, and the lushly creepy Dracula Teeth) are just Monkeys offcuts in orchestral pop clothing.
