I’m going to get straight to the point with this review. Yes, she’s a tad ubiquitous just now, and she’s very, very popular, and of course if you’ve read me review pretty much anything on a major record label you might think ‘Oh here we go, Euan’s going to slate this’. Well, I’m not, because I fucking love La Roux.
What? Well, yeah. It’s obvious from the first second of opener ‘In For The Kill’ that she’s something different. Not bad different, like Timmy Mallet, but an excellent different. Of course, it can be easily dismissed as retro 80s style keyboards and is just a quick-buck for grown-ups who liked New Order and the Human League ‘back in the day’, or kids who were too young to know those bands. However, in parts this is a universally good pop record.
Not to take away from Elly Jackson’s voice, which is ten times more accomplished than contemporaries like Little Boots or even Lily Allen, but even if you remove her vocals from the songs, there’s excellent electro-pop working in the background, which rivals even acts like Dntel. There are vocals though, and the lyrics aren’t typically rubbish stuff about ‘taking you out tonight’ or ‘you say you really care but you never make me scream’, which are relevant but boring. In songs like ‘Bulletproof’, she’s talking about being indestructible, imagine that!
In fact, we’ll focus in on ‘Bulletproof’, which is the current single from the album at the time of writing – the scratchy drums and keyboard loops are as good as anything New Order came up with, and there’s an obvious influence from the aforementioned group. But La Roux abandons New Order’s sunken, moody vocal (which I still really like) and in songs like ‘In For The Kill’ flexes her voice between Alto and Mezzo-Soprano, just about.
Unfortunately, the singles off this record are far and away the best of the songs, which is a dangerous game to play, given that the focus of singles tends to be lessening due to the downloading boom over the last few years. The singles should serve as an advert for the LP, and although songs like ‘Colourless Colour’ are impressive, they don’t quite match ‘In For The Kill’ and ‘Bulletproof’ in the quality stakes. I’m not a believer in the term ‘album filler’, but too many tracks such as ‘Armour Love’ would fit that category.
Regardless, when La Roux’s at her best, it’s the best mainstream pop around just now. When it’s up-tempo, no-nonsense and direct, La Roux is in a league of her own, and her brand of electro-pop rivals the aforementioned Human League for combining sensible pop melodies with bittersweet keyboard hooks. If only this quality was consistent.