The ever inventive Brian Burton – AKA Danger Mouse – decamped to Rome for his latest project, a collaboration with Italian film composer Daniele Luppi, inspired by the soundtracks of spaghetti westerns. The album’s potent, evocative brand of baroque pop – all strings, seductive bass and atmospheric acoustic guitar – is reminiscent of no-one so much as The Last Shadow Puppets, and proof of the considerable influence that Ennio Morricone continues to exert on music.
In addition to the numerous haunting soundscapes conjured by Burton and Luppi, there are six notable collaborations on the album; or, to be more precise, three each with Jack White and Norah Jones. The best of these are ‘The Rose With The Broken Neck’, featuring White, a melancholic torch song, and ‘Season’s Trees’, with Jones, a lush ballad that could easily have come from a Bond soundtrack.
Also worth listening out for is the wonderful ‘Her Hollow Ways’, the darkly romantic, spy movie feel of which recalls the work of John Barry – a notable influence on the album.