Alex Turner: David Bowie Revolutionised My Songwriting
With strings being pulled for The Last Shadow Puppets’ return, the Arctic Monkeys big cheese plus scouse spar discuss the records that inspired them with MOJO.
AS ALEX TURNER and Miles Kane revive their swinging partnership The Last Shadow Puppets, the pair have revealed their musical foundations to MOJO.
Speaking in our new issue, (May 2016 / #270) on sale in the UK now, the duo pick ten songs that have inspired them to make their forthcoming second album Everything You’ve Come To Expect, including David Bowie’s Moonage Daydream which the Arctic Monkeys’ frontman reveals completely transformed his approach to songwriting.
“I suppose the things I’d been writing before I heard this were a lot more [holds hand close to face]. The first Shadow Puppets album lyrically was definitely the first dip of the toe into the abstract for me,” Turner tells MOJO’s Tom Doyle.
“I recognised that sometimes the lyrics can be just another component along with the melody and the music. You might write a song about a girl you’re in love with, or a comedown, but there’s the space in-between all that that we’re interested in occupying sometimes,” he adds of Moonage Daydream’s influence.
“It’s like casting a shadow on a wall. And it’s like that’s the thing, rather than the object that’s causing the shadow. It’s like a secret, and you’re kind of wrapping it in a sugary shell with imagery.”
Get MOJO for The Last Shadow Puppets interview, including their 10 Sonic Inspirations.
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PHOTO: Tom Oldham