Everything You've Come to Expect

Several music critics cited Serge Gainsbourg (left) and Isaac Hayes (right) as having influenced the album's style.

Musically it has been described as a "a louche canon of swooning noir-pop" that sounds "indebted to the baroque soundscapes of the 1960s."[18] It has been characterised as Baroque pop, blue-eyed soul,[19] and psychedelic pop.[15] The album further incorporates influences from desert rock,[20] post-punk,[21] funk,[22] disco,[23] soft-rock,[24] and Italian film scores. It has been compared to the works of Jean-Claude Vannier, Serge Gainsbourg, Isaac Hayes,[25] The Replacements,[20] Queens of the Stone Age,[24][20] Lou Reed,[26] and Scott Walker.[27] In an interview with NME, the Last Shadow Puppets stated that their songwriting was influenced by Isaac Hayes and The Style Council, as opposed to the Scott Walker influences of their first album. Turner cited David Bowie as being "sort of in the DNA of every record, to some extent. He's been built-in for a long time",[12][11][28] and Serge Gainsbourg, "I always just keep trying to make everything sound like Melody Nelson and getting nowhere near."[15][29] The band also mentioned, Television, Foals, David Axelrod, Sparks, Dr. Hook's When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman, and Ned Doheny's "Get It Up for Love" as inspiration, as well as, Tears For Fears, Depeche Mode, and The Prodigy as bands they were listening to at the time.[30][15][31] Turner further cited the bass line to Sonic's Rendezvous Band’s "City Slang" as a heavy inspiration for "Bad Habits".[32]

Lyrically, the album main themes are hedonism, romance, and self doubt.[20][33] With the songs alluding to: Sex and free love,[25][34] recreational drug use,[35] prostitution,[25] jealousy, dreams, and homoerotic imagery.[36][37][38] Being mainly "about the shenanigans young rock stars get up to in LA; lust figures often,"[39] and described as, "a west coast film noir fever dream, scored by Ennio Morricone, with Kane and Turner the doomed protagonists."[21] The lyrics are a departure from their first album, and have been compared to the ones in other works by Turner, such as the "insecurity" found in Submarine (2010) and "metaphors straight from Arctic Monkeys’ fourth album Suck It and See (2011)."[24] The album setting revolves around Los Angeles and the West Coast, and includes references to the neighbourhood of Los Feliz, and cities outside the United States, such as Sheffield, and Paris.[15][20] Turner thought the lyrics on this record were "more effective and more refined," than the ones on their debut,[31] and that they had achieved something "slightly more surreal or abstract."[16] Further adding, "You still, arguably, sometimes reach more or evoke more interest in feelings when you're not telling a story and someone is not right there with you. You just sort of create an atmosphere."[40]

"Aviation", the album's opening track, begins with an "echoing scrape of strings."[25] Its first verse references sectoral heterochromia, an eye condition in which part of one iris is a different color from its remainder. Its second verse uses the term "coke-head close" to describe a woman, under the influence of the drug, loudly talking to the narrator. Turner wanted to use the word "Colorama" in a song since the first time he saw Michelangelo Antonioni's Blow-Up (1966), he described it as, "an unplugged neon light at the back of my mind for years,"[41] about the line he added, "It doesn't make a ton of sense, but that's not really the point. "I think, not always, but sometimes it's good to just have the lyrics facilitate a melody, like, that's harder to do, [...] — getting the fuckin’ ‘I Am The Walrus’ shit right."[32] Musically, the track's been described as coming closest to the "Lee Hazlewood-indebted style" of their first record.[42]

On "Miracle Aligner" the album its at its most "lush" and "seductive."[16] The song has a "breezy melody,"[42] and makes use of "tremolo-heavy guitars."[25] The duo jokingly claimed the song was inspired by a "yoga teacher" and a "make-believe wrestler."[43] Turner has said the beginnings of the song are "really old,"[42] with the song being mostly written by himself and musician Alexandra Savior. Originally written for her debut album, "it ended up being under the Shadow Puppets umbrella."[44] Savior rejected the song, saying, "is obviously about a coke dealer - it's a lifestyle that I didn't relate to myself."[35] Musically it has been described as "honeyed soul-pop."[45]

"Everything You've Come to Expect" is a "psychedelic waltz"[15] and has been called "Beatle-esque." The song finds Turner as "a jealous guy," among a "phantasmagoria of surreal visions of decadence."[15] The song references several songs and musicians, with the line "Croc-skin collar on a diamond dog" recalling David Bowie's album of the same name.[30] The mention of Honey Pie on the preceding verse, was thought to be a Beatles reference, although Turner admitted it was coincidental.[46] Another line, “I just can't get the thought of you and him out of my head,” was described as "textbook Turner lust."[24] The band has said it was the last song written for the album, and "the further down the wing" they have gone in terms of songwriting, adding that its their favourite track in the record.[42] "The Element of Surprise" has been called a ballad "direct from a past era"[26] that finds producer James Ford "steering closer to his dance music origins,"[23] and a funk track "that sounds like the Rat Pack performing inside George Clinton's Holy Mothership."[22] "Bad Habits" has been described as a "sinister punk mariachi groover"[21] driven by "Pallett’s violins,"[23] with "Iggy Pop-like intensity."[33] The song started with Turner playing the bass line, inspired by the one in Sonic's Rendezvous Band’s "City Slang."[32] The stream of consciousness lyrics were edited down from the original 40 minute long take, where Kane started reciting words without repeating himself once. Kane highlighted Ford's work in the song "to make it a pop song with, like, a punky edge."[47]

On "Sweet Dreams, TN", Turner "approximates a Nashville crooner" and has an "Elvis-in Vegas-turn" in what has been described as a "career best vocal."[32][15] Its has a "bolero-like staccato rhythm and slapback echo-drenched vocal".[25] It started when Turner sat down "playing an old Roy Orbison riff on an acoustic."[48] The track is a love song for his at the time girlfriend, Taylor Bagley,[8] and the most direct piece of writing in the record, "That tune actually is perhaps the only one where i sat down and it is just what it is, That's straightforward that," Turner has said.[15] Bagley convinced him to put the song on the record as he at first thought "There was almost too much truth in it or something."[48] It has been described as "country-tinged"[32] and "lounge singer grandeur."[23]

"Used to Be My Girl" is a "Homme-tinged desert rider,"[20] with lyrics that evoke a "quasi comic self loathing."[15] "She Does the Woods" is punctuacted by "high-drama stabs."[25] Turner said the track improved after Owen Pallet's arrangements were added,[11] and was direct about the lyrics, "Its pretty obvious that its about shagging in the woods."[49] Both tracks are a "double bill of [...] moodier tunes" and due to their placement on the album have been said to "evoke the sense it's one epic track," both likened to a mix of previous Arctic Monkeys' works, "Suck It and See infused with the darker rhythms of Humbug."[26] "Pattern" is an orchestral pop[20] track with "Isaac Hayes influenced" strings, that give it "a soulful swagger."[16] Lyrically being a "the-morning-after-several-nights-in-a-row-before lament."[15]

The album's final track, "The Dream Synopsis," finds Turner at his most "lugubrious and lizardy."[20] As the title describes, in the song he recounts his dreams to another person. He said of the track "It's almost like when you do talk about your dreams to someone, it's always the fucking most boring [...] And I thought, perhaps, if you added a melody and surrounded it by music, maybe it's more compelling. Marginally more compelling."[48] The first verse references Turner's time as a part-time bartender at The Boardwalk during the early years of his career.[50] The line "And a wicked gale came howling up through Sheffield City Centre There was palm tree debris everywhere" was an attempt to connect his native Sheffield with his, at the time, residence of Los Angeles.[8] It further references the neighbourhood of Los Feliz, and bandmate Miles Kane.[15][20][26] Kane recalled the song being more "upbeat" in the beginning, and that it took them a while "to get it [...] slow." Turner added that, this type of song is his "default position."[51] Turner claimed "It's a love song, after all. For a girl."[8] "The Bourne Identity" is a "violin-heavy hero's lament,"[20] which stands as the last track on the deluxe version of the album. The song "comes back to imposter syndrome."[20] Both closers have had its sound compared to "vintage Lennon, Bowie and Lou Reed" with "The Bourne Identity" further feeling "like a direct continuation of Turner's serene Submarine."[26]

The lead single, "Bad Habits", was released on 10 January 2016 alongside a music video directed by Ben Chapell.[66][67] The video depicts Kane and Turner at a dive bar in California, where they performed the song live, interspersed with footage of them socialising and womanising.[68]

The next three singles, the title track, "Aviation" and "Miracle Aligner" were released as a video trilogy entitled, "The Italian Saga", directed by Saam Farahmand. It has been described as "A tale of mob, love and music in stunning Italian 60s cinemascope".[69][70] Although, "Everything You've Come to Expect" was first released on March 10, it serves as the second installment of the trilogy, with "Aviation", released six days later, being the first.[71][72] The first two videos were described as "an intriguing Tarantino-esque two-parter, entirely set on a deserted Californian beach."[73] The last installment, "Miracle Aligner", was released on 28 March 2016.[74]

In January 2016, the band announced a tour of Europe and the U.S. which began that March,[75] In February they extended the tour into July, with dates added in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, and Japan.[76][77][78][79][80] On 24 March, they played live in Cambridge. This was the tour's opening performance, and the Last Shadow Puppets first performance since 2010.[81] In March and April they announced dates in Germany and England,[82][83] and in May they announced their U.S. tour.[84][85] During the tour they were supported by Jeff Wootton, Yak, Cam Avery and Alexandra Savior.[86]

The band also headlined several music festivals, including Coachella, Radio 1's Big Weekend, Primavera Sound, Rockwave, T in the Park, and Lollapalooza in Chicago. On April, the band played a show at Webster Hall, while reviewing the show for Q, Georgina Newman said, "The giggles and in-jokes are merely colour, because The Last Shadow Puppets are far more interested in underlining how far they've come musically. The orchestral pop framework the band established in 2008 is now fully fleshed out, with some well-defined muscle."[22] In June 2016, the band performed on the pyramid stage at Glastonbury. During the set, they performed a cover of "Moonage Daydream" in memory of David Bowie.[87] On July, the band played two nights at Alexandra Palace in London, on the second date, they were joined by Johnny Marr for a cover of The Smiths' "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me."[88] They ended their 2016 tour on 26 August by playing at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris, France.[89] The group were joined by touring members Davey Latter, Loren Humphrey, Tyler Parkford, and string section members, Caroline Buckman, Claudia Chopek, Jennifer Takamatsu and Mikala Schmitz.[22]

The band made a number of television performances in promotion of the album including on the late-night talk shows Le Grand Journal,[90][91] Late Night with Seth Meyers,[92][93] The Late Late Show with James Corden,[94][95] and Later...with Jools Holland.[96][97] On March, they played an acoustic set at VOX Studios in Los Angeles,[98] and a week later, an intimate show at Club 69 for Studio Brussel, where they played the album in full, as well as five tracks from their debut.[99] Several live sessions were recorded for radio stations such as Sirius XM, Flux FM, and BBC Radio 2.[100][101][102] Another acoustic session was recorded for Spotify at their studios in London.[103]