Album Review
La Roux - La RouxLa Roux – La Roux

Over the past 12 months LA Roux has enjoyed a lot of success they released her debut single ‘In For The Kill’ which hit the top 5 of the UK singles chart, they then released their next single ‘Bulletproof’ which went straight in at number one of the UK singles chart and now they have just released their self titled debut album which is sure to follow in the footsteps of the singles.

Now I have been looking forward to the debut album from La Roux, well ever since I first heard ‘In For The Kill’, I know many people who went to see Lily Allen play just after La Roux had released ‘In For The Kill’ and La Roux was supporting Lily Allen on her live tour and all these people came back telling me that the band supporting Lily Allen were really rubbish, now I don’t get this as La Roux are fantastic musicians and all the people that have gone and reviewed La Roux live for Alternative Vision pretty much share my opinion on them.

Anyway let’s get on to the album, so the debut self titled album is finally here, it features 12 tracks and runs for just over 45 minutes and it is a fantastic 5 star rated album that oozes in style and passion. The album opens with ‘In For The Kill’, the single that first brought major attention for La Roux and helped bag them a support slot on the Lily Allen tour, the song is drenched with synths and 80’s disco beats, front lady Elly Jackson’s vocals are so strong and straight to the point, she has a set of vocals that you will not be forgetting in a hurry.

‘Tigerlily’ is a very interesting song with the way that it opens up with a strange mixture of synths, Elly’s vocals come in really fast and sound as crystal clear as ever, towards the end of the song it has a Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ style feel about it as Elly Jackson’s father takes on a spoken word roll whilst a ray of disco beats take over.

Latest single ‘Bulletproof’ is obviously one of the strongest tracks on the album, the song has such a retro feel about it and you can just feel the passion coming from Elly as she sings “And this time baby I will be Bulletproof”.

Other good moments on the album are ‘Quicksand’ the song is really fast and bound to be released as a single in the not too distant future and it is also bound to become a dance floor anthem as it has all the right elements for that. ‘As If By Magic’ see’s Elly’s vocals toned down a bit as she sings along in a clear yet chilled way. ‘Growing Pains’ closes the album and its well worth a listen just for the variety of synths on offer.

The great thing about La Roux is that they have thought everything through from the start and have developed everything perfectly, they have the perfect image with Elly Jacksons massive red haired quiff which must take hours to get pinpoint perfect every day, and as for the sound they have sampled disco music from the 80’s but brought it to the 20th century with the nu-rave style synths, and vocally Elly Jackson can sing with a set of clear vocals, she can also screech and still keep things real.

Granted La Roux are not for everyone but for the next 18 months at least there will be no escaping La Roux as they are going to have a long successful run gracing the charts, filling dance floors, playing sold our shows across the country, seeing venues being upgrading due to high ticket sales and generally rocking out.

5/5

Review by Trigger
 Band Members
La Roux - Band
Elly Jackson (Synths, Vocals)
 Track Listing
1. Tigerlily
2. Quicksand
3. Bulletproof
4. Colourless Colour
5. I'm Not Your Toy
6. Cover My Eyes
7. As If By Magic
8. Fascination
9. Reflections Are Protections
10. Armour Love
11. Growing Pains' (UK Bonus Track)
 Band Related Links
La Roux Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?