FeedLa Roux Is Electropop With A Red-Haired Swoop
Written by NetBear on July 27, 2009 – 9:37 pm -It has been years since I’ve been wooed by a good British electropop band with an enigmatic singer. Annie Lennox in the Eurythmics… Alison Moyet in Yaz (Yazoo in Europe)… Andy Bell in Erasure… They’re all favorites. But now I have found my new British-electro-sensation. After hearing La Roux live in San Francisco, I’m hooked!
La Roux, French for “the red-haired one,” is a fantastically appropriate name for this duo made up of flame-haired singer and synth player Elly Jackson, and co-writer/co-producer Ben Langmaid.
Their music is filled with nearly raw synthesizer tracks. You hardly hear any digital mixing effects whatsoever. When people hear them live, they’re awestruck at how closely the group’s live music matches what you hear on their albums.
Jackson describing their respective roles as “very much a half and half sharing situation, not like a singer producer outfit”, but also recognising that it often can “look like a solo act”. Their music is influenced by 1980s synth pop including Human League, Heaven 17, Blancmange and Yazoo — or as it was known in the US: Yaz.
La Roux has everyone from Franz Ferdinand to Daft Punk hailing them as a talent to watch. Their self-titled album is a kaleidoscope of emotions, touching on everything from heartbreak to disappointment to invincibility: all in true spine tingling La Roux measures that create an instant resonance. Ranging from the high crystal-clean falsettos of ‘Fascination’ to the brooding lulls of ballad ‘Cover My Eyes’ [that features London Community Gospel Choir], the breadth of the album and La Roux’s diversity is clear.
For Elly and co-producer/writer Ben Langmaid, La Roux has never been about producing disposable dancefloor fodder. Since meeting four years ago the talented duo’s goal was clear, they wanted to bring classic songwriting back into the clubs and charts, and with this album they’ve accomplished that and far more. The album includes the succesful singles, ‘In For The Kill’, ‘Bulletproof’ and ‘Quicksand’. At the time of writing ‘Bulletproof’ is at No.1 in the UK Singles Chart and ‘In For The Kill’ at No.16.
Before they collaborated, Jackson, the daughter of actress Trudie Goodwin, grew up listening to folk artists and singer/songwriters like Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell, and drew inspiration from their sounds for her early music. However, her style changed as Jackson got into the rave scene, taking her music in a more electronic direction. Meanwhile, Langmaid went to school with Faithless’ Rollo Armstrong, and the pair recorded as house duo Huff & Puff in the mid-’90s; Langmaid also recorded as Atomic and as one half of Huff & Herb for Armstrong’s label, and was a songwriter for the group Kubb. Jackson and Langmaid began working together in 2006, when they were introduced by a mutual acquaintance. Initially, they called their project “Automan” and wrote largely acoustic music before scrapping that name and sound for the sleek Prince, David Bowie, and the Knife-inspired style they pursued as La Roux, a moniker Jackson found in a book of baby names.
Their debut single, “Quicksand,” was released by Kitsune in fall 2008, and earned the band acclaim from the BBC and the Guardian. La Roux supported Lily Allen on her 2009 U.K. tour around the time their second single, “In for the Kill,” was released that spring and debuted at 11 on the U.K. charts, reaching a peak position of two; that summer, the single “Bulletproof” debuted at number one a week before La Roux’s self-titled album was released.
This is the music video for Bulletproof by La Roux.
Here’s La Roux playing Fascination at the Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco. Yours truly is off to the right of the camera. And if you look real close you’ll see a bouncing bear in the front row who was featured in a photo at a recent Pinups posting.
Here’s La Roux on Jimmy Kimmel performing Bulletproof last week. Their drummer made this performance after clearing some visa hurdles getting into America.
The debut CD comes from La Roux comes out September 29th here in the US.
Want to download some free tracks from La Roux? Just follow this link and add your email to their mailing list. After confirming your entry you’ll get download information for Quicksand and Fascination. How cool is that?!
Get La Roux tracks on Amazon.com
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By Glenn on Aug 2, 2009 8:09:30 AM | Reply
Love La Roux! Bulletproof is a fantastic song.
And fun fact: Elly’s mother played Sgt. June Ackland in long running UK police drama, The Bill.
By Josh on Aug 7, 2009 5:58:22 PM | Reply
Thanks for the introduction to La Roux. My hubby and I love her and it’s all because of this post. Thanks again
By andii c: on Jan 5, 2010 10:52:55 AM | Reply
O_________o
El duoo
es fantasticOO¡¡¡
esperooo i nos visiten muii prOntOO
en mexicOOO¡¡¡
i lovee laroroux