Ladytron - Velocifero (Album)
Ladytron are the ultra creepy Halloween band, who deserve credit for creating electro pop that haunt your dreams. Comparisons of Goldfrapp off the Prozac may be drawn, but upon closer inspection, it is clear that Ladytron can hold their own as a standout UK electro act.
With past album titles stressing on this darkness such as The Witching Hour and Light and Magic, the Glaswegian/Liverpool ensemble are not known for wearing their heart on their sleeve, waxing lyrical about their love life…
And their latest studio release, Velocifero does not stray from this eerie style. From the opening track, “Black Cat” (by the way, it is sung in vocalist’s Mira Aroyo’s native Bulgarian tongue for those of you playing at home), you know that these catchy numbers contain a very distinctive bite.
Velocifero means literally, “Bringer of speed”, and indeed, one is whipped through the paces of the musical process behind Ladytron
The two singles that have already been lifted from the album, Ghosts and Runaway subscribe perfectly to the theory of what makes a song catchy, and therefore, popular. And with such accompanying lyrics as, “There’s a ghost in me/ who wants to say I’m sorry/Doesn’t mean I’m sorry”, just the right amount of punch is delivered.
Ladytron almost entirely self-produced the album (but, you know, as far as help goes, they managed to get Nine Inch Nails producer, Alessandro Cortini, onboard, most likely due to Ladytron’s past touring connections with NIN), which also drives home the intense ambience. The resonating vocals of Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo also contribute to the band’s musical incantation.
Such tracks as Predict the Day perfectly encapsulate the haunted warehouse feel, with samples of ominous whistling and heavy industrial synth and bass lines.
Then there’s Burning Up a seething inferno of dark sounds and unsettling lyrics: “I set myself on fire without you…I cheated gravity to chase you”. But they are also able to keep this vitriolic bite controlled, not coming across as bitter, rather, cynically enlightened.
Including the cover, Kletva from a 1970’s Bulgarian children’s movie and The Lovers by Columbian outift, Smokeong, Velocifero obviously isn’t taking itself too seriously, instead offering up a unique electro smorgasboard that leaves nothing to the imagination.
I’m Not Scared may be the Ladytron attitude , but hey, I must admit, that I am possibly a little unnerved…
