Last.fm is an online music-listening service that offers a variety of features. I first joined the platform in 2021 because I wanted a resource that would count not only the songs listened to on Spotify, but also the songs I played from my CDs.
I accumulated a lot of these CDs from my dad, who bought many of them before I was even born. I played them in my car so I could listen to uninterrupted music. This was before I decided to cough up money to pay for Spotify premium.
What started as just a way to record all the music I listen to, Last.fm has shown me artists that I may be interested in, and this was how I discovered The Last Shadow Puppets (TLSP).
TLSP is a modern supergroup that was formed in 2007 by Arctic Monkeys (AM) front-man Alex Turner and his new friend Miles Kane. The duo met in 2005 while Turner toured with the AM and Kane supported the tour.
I didn’t know of the existence of this band before Last.fm recommended it to me, but I now love this band. They have released two albums so far: “The Age of the Understatement” in 2008 and “Everything You’ve Come to Expect” in 2016.
Their debut album, released Jan. 1, 2008, also featured James Ford and Owen Pallet, but all of the lyrics were written by Kane and Turner. The duo has said they have taken inspiration from the late Scott Walker and the early works of David Bowie.
The album even features their cover of the Bowie song, “In the Heat of the Morning”. One of my personal favorites from this release is the seventh track, My Mistakes Were Made For You, specifically the first verse:
“About as subtle as an earthquake, I know / My mistakes were made for you / And in the back room of a bad dream she came / And whisked me away, enthused / And it’s as solid as a rock rolling down a hill / The fact is that it probably will hit something / On the hazardous terrain.”
There is something about this verse that sounds mystical to me. It details the start of an interesting story and a common theme that many listeners can listen to –- how love can make you do crazy things.
Their most popular song, “Sweet Dreams TN”, can be found on their sophomore album and has concurred over 2.6 million scrobbles (number of times listened) among Last.fm users. While I prefer their first album, I still admire this release.
This album was released eight years later in 2016. This is one reason many fans of The Last Shadow Puppets think a new album is coming in 2024, since it would follow this pattern of time between their only two albums.
Another observation that supports the release of a third album is that Turner’s main band, the Arctic Monkeys, has just wrapped up the year-long, the Car Tour. This leaves Turner available to write, produce and possibly tour for this album.
On the other hand, Miles Kane is slated for several solo tour dates from January to May 2024, but this would leave the second half of 2024 to collaborate with Turner, as well as Ford and Pallet among others.
This conversation was reignited among Arctic Monkeys and TLSP fans when Miles Kane was announced as a guest on some of the Car European tour dates. This public sighting of the duo has increased hopes for TLSP 2024.
I am so glad that I was able to find this band, but I may go crazy waiting to see if they release another album eight years after their last release.
Moris can be reached at [email protected].
