8:00pm Friday 26th June 2009
IT SEEMS somewhat strange to be revisiting the Eighties, with all its shoulder pads, big hair and general excess, in the middle of a recession.
But who said pop music ever had to make sense?
Flavour of the month, La Roux, are at the forefront of this electropop explosion, so it was no surprise the two-piece’s appearance at Chinnerys, in Southend, sold out in advance.
Their catchy, synthy pop is characterised by lead singer Elly Jackson’s distinctive falsetto vocal.
The public face of the band – keyboard player and co-producer Ben Langmaid prefers to stay out of the limelight – Jackson’s huge, red quiff and androgynous style have attracted just as much attention as her voice.
Arriving on stage to a reception few artists who had yet to release their debut album would expect, opener Quicksand, the band’s first single, got a massive response from an expectant crowd.
This was followed by a couple of promising sounding tracks from the album, the self-titled La Roux, which is due to be released on Monday.
But a downbeat, slower ballad did not fit as well with the band’s jaunty electric sound.
The group’s next and fourth single, I’m Not a Toy, showed La Roux at their energetic, defiant best, and began a singalong which lasted until the end of the gig.
Instantly catchy, it was followed by a record-perfect version of In For the Kill, the band’s breakthrough hit, which reached number two in the charts.
Jackson threw the microphone open to the crowd during the chorus of the finale, the group’s current single, Bulletproof.
Despite their recent success, the pair seemed genuinely overwhelmed by the audience’s response.
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