Miles Kane – Sunlight in the Shadows
Thanks to his collaboration project The Last Shadow Puppets with Arctic Monkeys’s Alex Turner, as well as two prolific solo records, Miles Kane’s rise as an indie behemoth seemed unstoppable. It’s a shame his output post-2016 has varied somewhat in quality, especially as tracks like Cry on My Guitar and Blame It on the Summertime stand out as some of his best work. Kane’s latest record, Sunlight in the Shadows, however, might be about to change that.
Bar one, every track on the album is a co-write between Kane and The Black Keys’s Dan Auerbach, with their initial songwriting session a lightning-in-a-bottle moment. In the studio, both lead the record’s “guitar army”, consisting of Barrie Cadogan, Cage the Elephant’s Nick Bockrath and session musician Tom Bukovac – “Never enough guitars,” quotes Auerbach. “I wanted to give Miles his Scott Walker moment.” The dramatic lead single and opening number Love Is Cruel reflects this, its booming intro with Kane’s unmistakable whammy bar work echoing his Puppets-era flare; there’s more of that 60s-tinged mystery in the slinky title track and the understated swell of Walk on the Ocean.
Over the years, Kane has stayed true to his mod roots; Without You is a lively British-beat bop, while both I Pray and Coming Down the Road feel like unearthed tracks from his early 2010s output. Although, the latter might have one of the most ridiculous openings to a song ever: “I can’t tell if I’m eggs or bacon / I’m all greased up and my legs are shaking.” There is a slightly dull misfire in My Love, but it’s pleasant enough. However, Always in Over My Head is a delightful surprise – it’s delicate and gorgeously layered with beautiful strings to create something akin to a lullaby.
Other tracks are worth staying for the groove over the lyrics – see the T Rex-esque Electric Flower, the scuzzy stomp of Blue Skies and Sing a Song to Love’s wall of guitars. Throw in the frenetically-paced cover of the Flamin’ Groovies’s Slow Deaths and voilà: a fun, well-written album, which is sure to translate to Kane’s live shows with ease.
This groove he’s found is very good, it suits him. Turns out collaborating with Auerbach might have been one of the best decisions he’s ever made, as Sunlight in the Shadows is Miles Kane’s strongest album since 2016.
Gem Hurley
Image: Larry Niehues
Sunlight in the Shadows is released on 17th October 2025. For further information or to order the album visit Miles Kane’s website here.
Watch the video for Love Is Cruel here:
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