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Album Reviews
Album Review: Ladytron – Gravity The Seducer (Nettwerk)
By Marc Samuels | Published on Wednesday 31 August 2011
Ladytron were at the forefront of the noughties electronic pop renaissance, but sadly for them, despite a decade of critical acclaim for their four fine albums, they haven’t impacted on the public consciousness in the way they deserve.
There’s no sign of fatigue or ennui here though, with the new album wrapped in a baroque, beautiful sheen that adds splashes of colour to the group’s strategically monochrome sound.
Opener ‘White Elephant’ glistens and shimmers, setting the scene for the verdant pastures ahead and whilst the icy guitars and stadium drums of ‘Mirage’ hark back to the rockier sound of 2008’s ‘Velocifero’, it still maintains a sense of lushness and grandiosity, whilst the group’s decidedly European aesthetic is never compromised. Elsewhere, ‘White Gold’ and ‘Melting Ice’ reveal themselves as epic anthems, the latter coming on like Stereolab on MDMA.
Whilst there are occasional touches of retro-futurism, this is an album that has no interest in recreating any particular era of music, electronic or otherwise, and its DNA reveals elements from the last four decades amid its impeccably maintained glamour and svelte pop nous.
An irresistibly strong collection of songs, this is both Ladytron’s best album and a highlight in a fairly fallow musical year. MS
