Album Review : La Roux - La Roux

La Roux are a bit of an anachronism, picked straight from the charts of the late '80s and dropped in our pop era of factory line outfits. It's easy to see why 'Bulletproof' has been such a success as it ticks all the boxes for chart domination - it's catchy, it's got a pounding dance beat but isn't solely a floor filler and it has an unquestionable sass and confidence.

As with virtually all pop albums, La Roux is front loaded with the first three singles amongst the opening four tracks. 'In For the Kill', 'Quicksand' and 'Bulletproof' are all good slices of big, polished pop full of memorable if familiar melodies and fairly vapid lyrics such as “We get ever so hot, whether we like it or not.” Nick Cave they ain't.

A couple of things become apparent the more you listen to the album: keyboard player and producer Ben Langmaid only has so many ideas on melody and drum beats and singer Elly Jackson doesn't have a terribly good voice. At times she sounds strained and at others there's a definite flatness and lack of character to the singing. It's when La Roux relax a bit and don't try so hard to pen a number one hit that Jackson and the duo in general are at their most successful. 'As if By Magic' has a more classy pop vibe to it until Jackson stomps her size 8s all over it with a fingers-in-your-ear “hoooo oooo oooo oooo” howl. 'Armour Love' is the kind of track Alison Moyet would have crooned over in the '80s with Yazoo and it suits La Roux well.

I have to admit that I had preconceptions in my approach to this album and my indie snob knives had been sharpened in anticipation for the kill. However, the knives remained surprisingly sheathed, as La Roux, whilst no pop masterpiece, is a solid album with enough about it to justify its chart success.