La Roux - La Roux (2009)

Well lets try my hand a a little music review! I pale in comparison to my good friend the Audio Bigot and his reviewing skills (do visit and read, he is very good - http://audiobigot.blogspot.com/ )

I first heard In For The Kill when my friend Hattie said it was her "fav Radio 1 song of the week." Normally i give Radio 1 a wide berth, in fact i doubt there is any musical medium i avoid more, so i was sceptical. She played the song a few times at pre-lashes and when we were just sitting about in her room and it seemed a bit generic, i thought nothing of it. The second single, "Bulletproof", was a bit a more striking. I heard it on the radio only recently and instantly recognised it as La Roux, with that distinct mix of Debbie Harry and Enya which works so well with the non-vocal parts to each track. This, along with a good friend of mine demonstrating singing in the shower need not be a personal performance, prompted me to give the album a look-see.

One quick download later and I've listened to it back to front 5 times in the past 24 hours. Now the lyrics are samey, the songs are just variations on the same beat and structure. I'm not a musician so i don't pretend to know whats what with bpm and the like i just calls em likes i sees em. And this all sounds the same.

HOWEVER. It all sounds the same in the respect that you can tell Freddie Mercury on every Queen song. Its because its by the same artist. Some bands/artists are too hung up these days on being varied within each album. Every band evolves. Look at two of my favorite bands, My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy. Both have had a few albums and both are now completely different from that first crisp, new sound they first coined. MCR used to be more punky and less mainstream 12-year old emo girl pleasing. That sounded wrong. I hope Gerard Way doesn't get investigated for that comment....am i liable? I probably am.

Anyway.......oh yes! Bands change. La Roux's album is solid the whole way through with a good mix of songs that demonstrate the excellent vocal tone balanced with some which are, in all fairness, filler but still GOOD filler!

I do genuinely expect the next album to either be awful or a carbon copy and therefore unoriginal, which I'm sure NME and Radio 1 *shudder* will deam a "disappointing second appearance" blah blah blah corporate tools blah blah

Check out the Senators, British and European Drum and Band Corps Champions several years running - http://www.senators.org.uk/