La Roux: La Roux

Released on Polydor, 29 June 2009

When I first heard La Roux's 'In For The Kill,' I stood staring at the television like a disgruntled parent sending a slew of diatribe toward the set as if I had wasps in my ears! I bemoaned the singer's hair and vocal delivery - worse than anything Jimmy Somerville's Communards could conjure up - and filed them under something never to harm my senses again!

Well, I stand (or rather, sit) writing this marginally corrected. Elly Jackson (and silent partner Ben Langmaid) certainly can be an acquired taste, however they're no worse than Yazoo or any of the other 80s names thus far thrown at them. Cover My Eyes particularly has more than an air of early Mode or Talk Talk with its synth and choral backing.

Speeding along like a bullet train and more 80s than Rubik's cube, the French alter ego breathes a certain Gallic charm onto their output. La Roux maybe resolutely retro but the songs are given a contemporary twist through Jackson's (at times) RnB vocal stylings, as on current single Bulletproof and also Tigerlily (which is more Lily Allen than Tigerlily - appropriate perhaps since the band supported Lily on UK tour in March). Bulletproof and 'I'm Not Your Toy' both deal with male mistreatment while 'Colourless Colour' and 'As If By Magic...(thoughts of you are gone)' are the more moodier pieces on display.

There's some nice wordplay too: the entire first verse of leading light 'In For The Kill' is sublimely put: 'We can fight our desires/But when we start making fires/We get ever so hot/Whether we like it or not' and 'They say we can love who we trust/But what is love without lust? Two hearts with accurate devotions/And what are feelings without emotions?'

While one always wonders how long a new act are here for, as if by magic - thoughts of La Roux could be rife for a while longer yet.

Kelvin Hayes (Unverified), 08/07/09

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