Emmanuel Elone: Alex Turner is a man of many talents, and “Miracle Aligner” proves it. Not only is he the frontman for one of the biggest garage rock acts of the decade (The Arctic Monkeys), but he’s also pretty great at making dreamy, layered baroque pop songs as well. The bass, percussion and guitar on the song are so textured, and melt into one another to create the perfect background instrumental for Alex to sing over. The vocal melodies throughout the track are also fantastic, especially the tantalizing one that serves for the chorus. As a whole, “Miracle Aligner” is seductive without being desperate and dreamy without being lethargic, making it a balanced, well-performed song as a whole. [8/10]
Chris Ingalls: The British quasi-supergroup featuring Arctic Monkey Alex Turner has just foisted a new album on us, and this first single is a rich, somewhat idiosyncratic chamber-pop gem. The production is gorgeous and stately and has a leisurely, art-pop feel not unlike something Bowie or Bryan Ferry would crank out when they’re feeling particularly laid-back. You could go even deeper and say that the lazy hooks of Prefab Sprout or Eric Matthews had a hand in influencing the sound. Whatever the case, it’s a beautiful thing. [9/10]
John Bergstrom: If you’re gonna put all those credits on the YouTube description, for people like the gaffer and the “clapper loader”, like it’s a proper movie, I’m gonna expect you to come up with something I can munch popcorn to. Fair enough, isn’t it? The song is classy and I’ve heard it performed many times before by people with names like Lloyd and Cole. The video, though, doesn’t cut it. Cool cinematography, but it ends there. Nice work, Alex Turner! [6/10]
Pryor Stroud: “Miracle Aligner” finds The Last Shadow Puppets — the collective moniker for Miles Kane and The Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner — doing their best beach-pop impression over a pristine, wall-of-sound backdrop. For the most part, it works: the summery melody is nearly flawless, and the ’60s-pastiche production never sounds overly contrived or intrusive. [7/10]
Chad Miller: The melody on this song is pretty nice, and the varied instrumentation fit the song well. It’s hard to get too excited about anything here though. A lot of the music sounds somewhat familiar or at least slightly unoriginal, and while everything is decent, there isn’t anything transcendent. [6/10]
SCORE: 7.20