1
The pair set about recording their songs during a trip to France in August 2007, with producer James Ford playing drums and manning the desk. Celebrated Canadian multi-instrumentalist Owen Pallett later added the album’s trademark strings with the help of the 22-piece London Metropolitan Orchestra.
2
The finished album ‘The Age Of The Understatement’, released in April 2008, was an instant classic, shooting straight to Number One and spawning several hit singles including the title track, for which the pair filmed a video in Moscow.
3
The album was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize, but lost out to Elbow’s ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’. The band performed at the ceremony with a string section.
4
During their first major interview together the pair were in ebullient mood, talking about dancing to Thin Lizzy after the album was finished, Ford’s taste for “kinky red wine” and how the record was “a combination of all our experiences and fantasies”.
5
Live shows, however, were few and far between. Their biggest festival appearance was at Reading 2008 with a 16-piece orchestra, ahead of a UK and US tour.
6
The most memorable gig of the summer, though, was a secret show at Glastonbury, where they were joined by Matt Helders on drums and Jack White on guitar.
7
Since then, expectation has been building to fever pitch for a follow-up to ‘The Age Of The Understatement’. Kane first suggested they were looking to record more material way back in a 2009 interview with The Sun.
8
Between 2010 and 2012 they often dropped hints that they were waiting for “when the time was right” to record again, and were virtually inseparable at gigs and music industry events.
9
It wasn’t until October 2015, however, that Owen Pallett let the cat out of the bag, Tweeting confirmation that recording was underway on album two.