Ladytron – Ladytron

If you're already invested in Ladytron's icy yet sleek sound, then their eponymous sixth album is a welcome if not wholly groundbreaking return

Album Review by Eugenie Johnson | 13 Feb 2019
  • Ladytron – Ladytron
Album title: Ladytron
Artist: Ladytron
Label: !K7
Release date: 15 Feb

Ladytron last released an album back in 2011. Yet when they returned with new single The Animals back in March of last year, it was almost as if they hadn’t been away. The quartet’s synth-driven melodies and Helen Marnie’s often blunt delivery of lines about the primal nature of humanity ('There is no law / There is no god') provided an instantly familiar touchstone.

It’s therefore little wonder that that their sixth album is eponymously-titled. Somewhat shirking some of the more spacious, atmospheric elements that laced their last album Gravity the Seducer, Ladytron picks up the pace and is littered with the kind of pulsating, relentless electronic soundscapes that helped forge the band's identity. It’s at its best when the pounding percussion and dense arpeggiated synths are swapped for more prominent melodies, or where there are experimentations, such as on the post-punk tinged Paper Highways.

If you weren’t already a fan of the group’s particular brand of synthpop, then there will be little here to change your mind, especially as there are times when the album can feel a bit drawn-out. But this is a record that feels handcrafted for the fans that waited so long for new material. Had you already previously invested in their icy yet sleek sound, then Ladytron is a welcome, if not wholly groundbreaking, return.

Listen to: The Island

http://www.ladytron.com/