Atchooooo, nothing new. (La Roux - La Roux)

Member Name: paulhanton

Product:	La Roux - La Roux
Date:	04/09/09 (127 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pleasant in parts.

Disadvantages: Samey, polished, boring.

La Roux - La Roux (2009).

Elly Jackson & Ben Langmaid are the mainstay of this 80's revival electro pop group, though they do use a drummer and keyboard player.

I'll be totally up front and tell you that whilst I have listened to every track I have only downloaded three of the tracks.

This is a shameless album that shamelessly takes early 80's sounds like Soft Cell, Flock of Seagulls and even to some extent, Sparks, and tries to turn it into something relevant for today.

It does not succeed in my opinion. Yes, the synthesisers are there, yes, her voice is very evocative of the 80's, yes it is 'poppy', in fact all the ingredients are there and the band has been hailed and hyped from on high. Mercury award nominees etc., etc., and yet...there is something not quite right for me and I could not put my finger on it at first then I realised what it is.....it is TOO POLISHED...the 80's bands of the same genre were experimenting, getting it a bit wrong, they sounded mostly like they had been recorded in a garden shed and I loved that. This lot however are so damn perfect it is not right.

So, the tracks I downloaded for myself are:

'In for the Kill'...big chart topper and strangely infectious. I do like the synth beat that reminds me a bit of Visage or even Gary Numan's early stuff. Her voice is strained yet within itself and I found myself humming away. Decent enough and good on some playlists on my iPod.

'Bulletproof'....another chart success (am I becoming a charty?)....I quite like the verses where she seems to be singing 'away' from the melody and again, the chorus is catchy in a nice, inoffensive synthetic way.

'Cover my Eyes'...a much slower number that could easily be T'Pau is somehow, for me, the best track on the album, at least it has some feeling. There is a faint oriental sound to this...for those that know, I am guessing that it is a minor pentatonic key...feel free to correct me...either way, it is a good song. No better, no worse, just good.

As for the rest.....decidedly ordinary, expect the pretentious awful track that is 'reflections are protection'...get over yourself love!


~~~Finally~~~

There is talent here, of that there is no doubt. Elly has a quite lovely voice that can be screechy or smooth (I prefer screechy), the music is complex in its simplicity and that is both a plus and a minus.

They are certainly not worthy of the hype in my opinion, and I am predicting a flop 2nd album, then obscurity. Why? They have set their stall out to be 80's copycat....but think on, that style that they copied really only lasted from '79 - '82 then those bands that were to be successful a little longer (Duran, Duran, Spandau Ballet) changed tack......I'm not sure that these can.

Too polished, to samey, don't buy it, you will be disappointed in a week, I am already fed up with the tracks I downloaded!


~~Full Track Listing~~

1. In for the Kill
2. Tigerlily
3. Quicksand
4. Bulletproof
5. Colourless Colour
6. I'm Not Your Toy
7. Cover My Eyes
8. As If By Magic
9. Fascination
10. Reflections Are Protection
11. Armour Love


Bonus Tracks (like we need them!)

Growing Pains
In for the Kill

Summary: La Roux.