Miles Kane – Colour of the Trap

Liverpool lad Miles Kane doesn’t just know how to make friends and influence people –he knows how to get them to appear on his record and all. The non-Arctic Monkey half of the Last Shadow Puppets, Kane here strikes off for his first solo effort. Noel Gallagher appears, the SFA’s Gruff Rhys sings and upcoming French actress Clemence Poesy turns up to breathe heavily in typically Gallic fashion on duet Happenstance.

It all fits quite comfortably in the M for Merseybeat section of your record collection. Kingcrawler, especially, could have appeared on the first Coral record, and the rest leans just as heavily on its 60s heritage, in much the same way as the Zutons et al did before. Single Inhaler catches Kane with a beat steady enough for any talcum-flecked, Northern English dance floor. That trad sound, though, is also Kane’s big weakness; across the record its staid, everyman charm wears off quickly. You can see why Noel G is a fan, but those wanting more than pleasant nostalgia should look elsewhere. [PJ Meiklem]