Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 09/12/2002
Label: Telstar

Are Ladytron electroclash? They protest not at every given opportunity, probably mindful of what happened when the genre last stuck its head over the parapet as romo. The problem with ultra stylish retro futurism over the years has been the sense that it's all a huge joke at the expense of the listener - the feeling that, somewhere in Europe, a bunch of moneyed playthings are chortling into their martinis that anyone's taking their kitschy hobby seriously.

Ladytron, though, are different. They manage to have both an air of gravitas that's previously been beyond the reach of suave electro pop (and don't mistake the affectation of ennui for genuine intent) and enough of a knowing sense of humour to play with the accepted signifiers of the form. Their world is a few crucial notches below the regular haute couture electro standards - Novotels and black plastic rather then The Hudson and this season's must-have fabric.

What really convinces about Ladytron - apart from their way with a sleek, atmospheric melody - is the disturbing, almost macabre undercurrent that informs 'Light & Magic'. The single 'Seventeen' becomes all the more disturbing with every repetition of the minimalist lyrics, the sense of coercion and exploitation gathering as the instrumentation becomes even more lush in contrast. 'Blue Jeans' has a nightmarish bliss reminiscent of the 'Midwich Cookoos' (there's no other way to put this: I see dead children singing while this song plays), while 'Start Up Chime' is 21st century paranoia honed to perfection.

It doesn't all quite work. 'NuHorizons' and 'Turn It On' veer slightly too close to soulless electro for comfort, and there's a little too much obvious delight in technology, to the point where you wonder whether Mira and Helen are going to start declaiming their Mac instruction manual. But when they use the inhuman to focus on the all too human (which, of course, was the secret of the Pet Shop Boys' success), they're gloriously, impeccably, romantically, just so.

    by Ian Watson