Album Reviews |

Ladyhawke



Ladyhawke 8 ( 2008 )
Magic / Manipulating Woman / My Delirium / Better Than Sunday / Another Runaway / Love Don't Live Here / Back Of The Van / Paris Is Burning / Professional Suicide / Dusk Till Dawn / Oh My / Crazy World / Morning Dreams

My do Ladyhawke sound early 80s electro? There's some Gary Numan sounds in here even, for gods sake. Almost even more unlikely is the fact Ladyhawke hail from New Zealand. Anyhoo, adolescent synths and cheap romance has always been attractive to pale youths who are actually no longer youths, rather old enough to just about remember when they were. Ladyhawke's vocals aren't the strong point of the LP, they are no more than serviceable and lack the required dead-pan type character of the best synth-pop singers. No, her talents lies more with her ability to create an interesting musical track. Also, for all of the 80s comparisons she has attracted, something like 'My Delirium' actually sounds very modern, very 2009 and also pretty good. If the future of pop music seems to be moving in this sort of direction, i'm happy. Well, it's about time the 80s were revived properly and not in some ham-fisted way like Calvin Harris. 'Over the Atlantic, baby' goes 'Magic' and the chorus is repeated in the very best/worst eighties fashion. She's got it down, man.

'From Dusk Til Dawn' is a thumping dance track with heavy bass lines, a proper verse/chorus structure, a heavy disco feel and it's as danceable as a bouncy castle at a childrens fun-park. 'Morning Dreams' features keyboards, samples and guitars and manages to be a rather lovely mid-tempo pop song. This is the new-pop, you see. Artists using technology to write songs, rather than merely as a gimmick. This new-pop is something i'm getting to be fond of and 'Ladyhawke' deserves a place at the main table.

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