Review: La Roux
By Tanita Sidhu
Monday 2nd November 2009
Monday 2nd November 2009
Armed with a dramatic quiff, a piercing falsetto voice, and plenty of tinny synthesisers, electropop duo La Roux take centre stage for the big 80s revival of the decade. Whilst the strikingly androgynous singer and synth-player, Elly Jackson, admits that La Roux often looks ‘like a solo act’, it is in fact a collaboration between her and the elusive co-writer/producer Ben Langmaid.
From the streets of Brixton and the family home Jackson shares with actress mother Trudie Goodwin (aka June Ackland of ‘The Bill’), the pair has delivered an edgy, chart-topping synthpop debut.
‘La Roux’ immediately bursts into a spree of foot-tapping melodies and catchy choruses, including the radio-friendly ‘In For The Kill’ and the dark, thunderous ‘Tigerlily’ in which Jackson’s own father eerily asks ‘Have you ever felt like your being followed?’ The twosome echo the metallic sounds of 80s electro pioneers such as Eurythmics, Erasure, and The Human League, without sounding dated or trite.
Although there are some truly electric pop songs on ‘La Roux’, Jackson’s shrill vocal grows to be rather cutting and discordant; and there are moments like ‘As If By Magic’ where the album loses its earlier high-energy magnetism. La Roux do not totally fail to produce an alluring low-key track though. ‘Cover My Eyes’ exposes a compellingly vulnerable depth to Jackson’s otherwise intense voice, and with backing vocals from the London Community Gospel Choir the track is refreshingly different to the rest.
Whilst it may not be a record you listen to religiously on repeat, ‘La Roux’ is the perfect album to wake you up in the morning, or to get you buzzed before a night out on the town / mean cobbled streets of St. Andrews!
From the streets of Brixton and the family home Jackson shares with actress mother Trudie Goodwin (aka June Ackland of ‘The Bill’), the pair has delivered an edgy, chart-topping synthpop debut.
‘La Roux’ immediately bursts into a spree of foot-tapping melodies and catchy choruses, including the radio-friendly ‘In For The Kill’ and the dark, thunderous ‘Tigerlily’ in which Jackson’s own father eerily asks ‘Have you ever felt like your being followed?’ The twosome echo the metallic sounds of 80s electro pioneers such as Eurythmics, Erasure, and The Human League, without sounding dated or trite.
Although there are some truly electric pop songs on ‘La Roux’, Jackson’s shrill vocal grows to be rather cutting and discordant; and there are moments like ‘As If By Magic’ where the album loses its earlier high-energy magnetism. La Roux do not totally fail to produce an alluring low-key track though. ‘Cover My Eyes’ exposes a compellingly vulnerable depth to Jackson’s otherwise intense voice, and with backing vocals from the London Community Gospel Choir the track is refreshingly different to the rest.
Whilst it may not be a record you listen to religiously on repeat, ‘La Roux’ is the perfect album to wake you up in the morning, or to get you buzzed before a night out on the town / mean cobbled streets of St. Andrews!