Whether it's through lyrics or instrumentation, music is almost always used as a cathartic form of communication. Even the simplest, most undeveloped songs have some sort of emotion attached to it. It's this therapeutic power that compels listeners to obsess over certain songs or artists—music allows listeners to share spiritual human sentiments.
Cold, hard, and alienating, Ladytron's music, however, is about as empathetic as a block of ice. Formed in Liverpool almost ten years ago by Reuben Wu, Daniel Hunt, Helen Marnie, and Mira Aroyo, Ladytron's beginning coincided perfectly with the extinct genre of electroclash. The kitschy sounds of 2001's 604 and 2002's Light & Magic made up songs both concerning and sounding like the future, and it worked well. For a hot minute, Ladytron became electroclash's quintessential act. While the term “electroclash” is now almost a swear word in the world of all things indie and electronic, Ladytron was somehow able to survive the backlash that eradicated so many of the asymmetrical-haircut-having, hot-pink-wearing, ironic-synthesizer-playing bands. They gave us the well-received Witching Hour in 2005, with one of the year's strongest singles, "Destroy Everything You Touch." The album proved to critics and listeners alike that instead of being a fleeting band-of-the-moment, they were here to stay.
Velocifero, their fourth studio album, was recorded and produced in Paris in collaboration with Alessandro Cortini of Nine Inch Nails and Vicarious Bliss of Ed Banger fame. It follows a similar direction that the band began heading in with Witching Hour. Like its predecessor, Velocifero has a classier, more mature, and masterful sound that is showing with age. And not diverting too much, Ladytron sticks with their cold, emotionless tone that they carry out so well.
The first fifteen seconds of the album's opener, "Black Cat," begins with shimmering synths—then suddenly hits hard when the drums enter kick in and even harder when Mira Aroyo's vocals chime in, casting a haunting spell in her native Bulgarian language. Ladytron's trademark dual vocals are heard in the chorus: first, Aroyo’s robotic and blank voice, followed by Helen Marnie’s more melodic and softer sound. They also use this approach in "They Gave You A Heart, They Gave You A Name," except here, it's reversed. Marnie’s feminine, softer vocals are shadowed by Aroyo’s scolding, mechanical vocals reiterating the lyrics. "Ghosts," by far the catchiest song on the album, is appropriately one of the album's singles. Beginning with a burst of energy that would make Iggy Pop smile, the swaggering, glam guitar is supported by playful, yet conniving lyrics. "There's a ghost in me who wants to say I'm sorry. Doesn't mean I'm sorry." Helen Marnie sounds like a little girl, swaying between good and evil, while on "Runaway," another single, she's making a melancholy call for her little runaway, quite different from the way Del Shannon did it in 1961. "Kletva," a Bulgarian children's television theme song, again shows Ladytron's more playful side, even bordering on psychedelia, and "Deep Blue" is composed of sexy, deep, controlled vocals juxtaposed with a winding and erratic sound.
The main complaint of Velocifero is that it loses its oomph after the first few songs and goes on for too long. It’s funny, though—lyrically, Ladytron’s songs are pretty simple. They purposefully repeat their dry, minimal phrases over and over again. While they’re not saying much of anything new throughout their individual songs, from the amount and length of the songs in their catalog, Ladytron does have a lot to say. You just have to break down their icy cold exterior to find out what it is.
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