Ladytron – Paradises
On their eighth album Paradises, Ladytron head for the disco and relive the fun of 90s clubland
Vacate the ice baths, people, Ladytron have gone all warm and gooey. The trio are best known for sleek and bleak synth-pop. And they’re masters at it. But for their eighth album, Paradises, Helen Marnie, Mira Aroyo and Daniel Hunt are sounding, well, happy. Two years on from Time’s Arrow, the Liverpool-formed group have headed for the disco. One probably where everyone one is wearing black, but still, there’s dancing.
The group’s new found fun kicks off with I Believe in You, a banger that uses the hypnotic Roland sound of A Guy Called Gerald’s 80s acid house classic Voodoo Ray. The sound is used again on A Death in London, Free, Free and to great effect on album closer For a Life in London, a spoken word song with Pet Shop Boys DNA. The album is all about looking back and remembering the fun in clubland they had in the late 90s. There isn’t much depth to the lyrics. This album is about feel.
The peak is Kingdom Undersea, a lavish and dreamy song underpinned by Italo-disco synth stabs. Sing also echoes the dance past with Marnie sounding like Kirsty Hawkshaw from Opus III’s 1992 hit It’s a Fine Day. One quibble; many of the songs could do with a minute taken off them and 16 songs is four too many. But for once this is a Ladytron album to listen to in the sunshine.
Listen to: I Believe in You, Kingdom Undersea, Sing