Gary Flockhart: Can't wait to see Puppets show

It was music to my ears, literally, when the band’s March 26 gig at the Usher Hall was announced earlier this week.

Now, I make no apologies for saying this, but I adore the collaborative side project of Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner, pictured, and his best bud Miles Kane.

That they’re coming to Edinburgh was good enough news – but the fact they’ll be playing their new album here before anyone else gets to hear it is very exciting.

Yeah, so I’m looking forward to it (are you getting that?).

So taken was I with the band’s 2008 debut, The Age Of The Understatement, I wrote in this space, “Just as I was losing the will to live, in the post comes a record that restores one’s faith in music.”

Granted, at the time of writing there wasn’t much new music around that was exciting me, but seven years later I still love that record.

To make it all the sweeter, the band’s nice PR lady sent me a fetching LSP’s tote bag along with the album, and it’s been coming in handy to carry things to the beach ever since.

I’m not sure I’ll get any freebies when the time comes to review Everything You’ve Come To Expect (out on April 1), but if the new album is as good as comeback single Bad Habits I’ll be as happy as Larry anyway.

Speaking about the release, Turner said: “I think the last record ended up being just one thing. This one, in my head, doesn’t wear its influences on its sleeve as much as the first one did.”

Here’s hoping LSP’s newbie is at least as diverse as its predecessor – itself a veritable toast to 60s chamber psychedelia that had a spaghetti-Western gallop, a touch of Ennio Morricone, and string arrangements by the 22-piece London Metropolitan Orchestra that elevated it high about the usual indie fare.