Review:
Eighties synth pop is back in a big way. Little Boots, Lady Gaga, Ladyhawke and now La Roux, the Ladies are leading the charge. Only six months, and La Roux has already become a really big deal in the UK. With their eponymous debut, the duo has reached the #1 spot on the singles and #2 spot on the albums chart. Made up of producer Ben Langmaid and singer Elly Jackson, Jackson is all three dimensions of the La Roux, as Ben prefers being out of the spotlight.
No point asking why hollow, undeniably catchy synth-pop is back in the running. It just is, and if you want to compare them to Yazoo or the Eurythmics, they’re just as good. And comparisons to them will be instant, because the music is completely derivative of the style they created.
Opener ‘In For The Kill’ is the testing point for everyone. Not because it’s the best song here, but because the album’s features are the same throughout: The choruses are shout-out-loud, the beats are kitschy and the mood is cold. Jackson may get loud, but she does tone down the emotions, which, I don’t know why, is a necessity in the genre.
Stalker song ‘Tigerlily’, where Jackson is the offender, has a disjointed beat, like many of the songs here, which is why it’s hard to imagine it becoming popular in India. But if there’s a song here that’ll reel us in, it’s ‘Bulletproof’, which is the perfect (and improved) sequel to ‘Poker Face’. And its emotionally belligerent message makes it a likely hit contender anywhere in the world.
Contenders for second spot are ‘Fascination’ and ‘Quicksand’, both of which have medium-sized hooks that will mature with time or explode in the ‘Bulletproof’ hype. Either way, it’s inevitable. Jackson is almost certainly the most talented of the above-mention girls. It’s astonishing how much she can change within such a limited format. The tunes are merely flipped, you could say, but she’s brilliant at changing her voice completely even though the mood is similar every time. Except in ‘Tigerlily’, where the change in tone is necessary, she plays a victim in strikingly new ways.
If synth-pop’s your thing, La Roux’s your best bet as far as longevity is concerned. Not entirely bulletproof, though. Synth-pop never is.
