La Roux – La Roux
The ‘one with the red haired quiff’ (Elly Jackson) and Ben Langmaid, otherwise known as La Roux, have successfully managed to put their retro electropop sound into the conscious of the mainstream, including a number one single along the way too. Tastemakers have been salivating after listening to tracks such as Quicksand and In For The Kill, the latter being her breakthrough single. At the very least, she’s winning the race between her, Little Boots and Florence & The Machine to be the new UK pop princess. It seems that tinny pop is back in business.
The album relies on one of the oldest pop tricks in the book – using happy, shiny, minimalist pop to mask the downbeat lyrics (mostly in this case about twisted love). Songs like In For The Kill are, and you try hard to defend it, good pop songs on the surface with killer refrains and catchy rhythm. That exterior masks the almost voyeuristic interior of the lyrics. As pop albums go this is certainly revealing – far more so than her competitors at least. It is definitely the most appealing aspect of listening to this album. This self-titled debut is not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it shows great potential.
RATING – 3/5
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Posted on July 1st, 2009 by Max
Filed under: Albums, Reviews
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