La Roux - La Roux Review

Posted by Paul Schofield on 07.07.2009

Best things from the 80s: The Goonies. LA Gear. MTV when it was good. Eddie Murphy when he was funny. Walkmans. Synthpop?



Track listing:

1. In For The Kill
2. Tigerlily
3. Quicksand
4. Bulletproof
5. Colourless Colour
6. I'm Not Your Toy
7. Cover My Eyes
8. As If By Magic
9. Fascination
10. Reflections Are Perfection
11. Armour Love
12. Growing Pains (bonus track)


If there’s one musical decade that has been derided by almost everyone, it’s the 80s. Bad hair, bad fashion, bad music. While the first two might be true, I am inclined to disagree with the bad music part. Rock, heavy metal, hip hop, punk – they all flourished in these ten years. Even pop music went to new heights, thanks to Madonna and that other guy, you know, whatshisname, hugely musically talented, married a few times, quite the dancer, used to be black, had a pet monkey...



No, not him.

Anyway, synthpop was also pretty big in the 80s too, thanks to bands like Eurythmics, Gary Numan, Pet Shop Boys, Yazoo, Depeche Mode and so on. It’s recently been making something of a comeback (on this side of the pond anyway) due to the success of MGMT amongst others. Now, comin’ straight outta London despite the French name, is La Roux, fronted by Elly Jackson. She’s definitely got the 80s look, especially the hair. Woah. Molly Ringwald called, she wants her wig back. They made the top five of the BBC’s Sound Of 2009, finishing above someone’s aunt wearing lycra. Oh wait, that’s GaGa. They are getting a fair bit of buzz over here at the moment, and are currently due to have a number one album come Sunday, and would still be the number one single if it wasn’t for You Know What happening. But is it all deserved, I hear you type? The answer is: not quite.

Opening track, and the second single release off of the eponymous album, is “In For The Kill.” It’s a huge piece of nostalgia pie (and God knows I love me some pie), harking back to the days of men in dodgy suits, and women dancing round handbags. It’s actually quite good, and a decent choice for a single. Jackson draws heavily on the likes of Annie Lennox, but her voice is naturally more girlish, seeing as she wasn’t even born in the 80s. She seems to have caught up well though.



Second song “Tigerlily” is a bit more aggressive, the verses hurled with a fair amount of vinegar, before a more restrained chorus kicks in. It would have been nice to keep the punch going all the way through; as such the chorus is pretty forgettable. There’s even a Thriller-esque spooky speech in the middle that obviously pays homage, but it seems strange when it’s followed by the sleepwalking chorus, instead of another vitriolic verse. The beat is pretty funky though, and the only shame is that it could have been so much better. Have a listen, see if you agree.



“Quicksand” doesn’t have the same impact of the previous songs, and it’s the first sign that the novelty is wearing off already. This was their first single, and it’s no wonder they didn’t take off on the back of this. It’s lacking the catchiness of the first song, and the bite of the second. It’s album filler, no question. “Bulletproof” is better, but again it falls into the same pitfalls as “Tigerlily.” The verses are rapidly dispersed over a Commodore 64-like soundtrack, and are pretty fun. But the chorus is lacking; the same line repeated with no real purpose or feeling. It’s a nice touch when they change it to a Daft Punk style, but it’s only fleeting. “Colourless Colour” (I know I’m English, but when the song title is by someone who is English too, I’ll keep it Queens’ English all the way) is a more sombre effort, Jackson’s voice full of yearning over a beat that is best described as squelchy. For once the chorus is acceptable, and due to this the song seems to flow easier, making it a decent effort. If this rule had been applied earlier, I could be really liking this album so far, instead of being still dubious.

“I’m Not Your Toy” is a fair effort, it’s nicely delivered, but it’s strange that it’s a different version to a previous album sampler version, which on first listen seemed to be a bit less cheery. Maybe that version fits the theme of the song better, as the album version is a tad airy, and dare I say it, cheesy. But next song “Cover My Eyes” is a synthpop ballad that shows how fragile Jackson’s voice can be, and it’s a little gem of a song if you give it a chance.



Despite the quality lacking in some of the songs, there’s no doubt that Jackson has the perfect voice to sing them. “As If By Magic” is *shockhorror* a consecutive good song. If they didn’t rely too much on the synths, it would sound up to date anyway, like a slower song by Sugababes or Annie (the one from Berlin, not Lennox). “Fascination” is, alas, another song with the poor chorus syndrome. I know I keep mentioning it; I do so because I do see good in these songs, but the chorus is meant to be the pinnacle, rather then the trough it all too often is on this album. Whether this problem is due to La Roux or the producer, it’s something that needs to be addressed.

“Reflections Are Protection” doesn’t do it for me. It’s bland if anything, lacking something that can make it stand out. A killer line or beat, even a sound effect, it just doesn’t have it, and it feels tired. But then there’s “Armour Love” which is similar to “Cover My Eyes.” It’s another slow effort, with the emphasis on Jackson’s voice, not on any flashy overproduction. Sometimes the best things are the simple things, and this is Exhibit A. It actually distresses me that there are so many ups and downs on this album from a critical perspective. And as if to emphasize that point, the final bonus track “Growing Pains” is similarly problematic. The beat is decent enough, if not a bit too much over the verses, and the chorus is fair. But there’s something about it that just doesn’t draw me in, just like the rest of the album. In some ways it’s annoying, as the poorer parts can be dismissed easily, but when the stronger parts are enjoyable, it just confuses. It’s not a question of genre, it’s a question of consistency.

The 411: To like an album, you have to like at least half of the songs on it. While I may like some parts of songs, when the feeling you are left with after listening is disappointment, it doesn’t bode well. It is disappointing, as there are good quality songs on this album, and a few of the rest of the songs could have been up there too, but for me there are too many drawbacks, too many disappointments. The truth is that I approve of less than half of the songs, only just, but it’s not close enough. The truth also is that this could have been a really good album, but it suffers from shooting itself in the foot too often. If you want synthpop, I recommend the modern updates of MGMT and Hot Chip, because this, like most things from the 80s, probably should have stayed there.

Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]