The Rumble Strips - Welcome To The Walk Alone

Recruiting Owen Pallet - famed for his work with Arcade Fire and The Last Shadow Puppets - to orchestrate the album has proved a masterstroke. Pallet's interpretations of the band's arrangements lift The Rumble Strips' distinctive sound to new levels, adding a sense of golden-era grandeur, refined by Ronson's production.

First single, Not The Only Person, is a Queen meets Elvis Costello revelation. Backed by huge orchestration, the song's summery vibes mask some of Charlie's finest lyrics to date. You'd be forgiven for presuming lines such as "you're not only person to get it wrong / it's all right" are aimed at a loved one, whereas actually the song is Charlie's apology to two muggers who attacked him and his wife. The assault failed when Mrs Waller chased the startled muggers away and the song is Charlie's (perhaps empathetic) apology to them for messing with his wife, concluding with him offering to "come back tomorrow night alone /and you can take anything that you want".
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