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Avg: 4.5 (12 ratings)
- Date Released: June 3, 2008
- Genre: Rock/Pop
- Style: Commercial Alternative
- Label: Sinnamon / The Orchard
Ladytron return with a record that is shimmering, synth-driven and distinctly their own.
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We Say...
Velocifero, Ladytron’s fourth studio album, couldn’t have been made by any other band — it’s a Ladytron album from the highest shining hi hat to the bottom of its fuzzy synthesized bass. It builds well on the darkling foundations laid by previous release Witching Hour, but is by no means identical.
The band stops at the usual Ladytron lodestones: Gary Numan, Roxy Music, the more deviant side of the Pet Shop Boys — all the English art-pop they’re magnetically attracted to. They’ve also restored the balance of mic time, absent on Witching Hour, between the two contrasting vocalists, sweetly singing Scot Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo, a compellingly monotone Bulgarian.
So what’s new? Or, being Ladytron, what’s retro-new? Velocifero takes the band’s usual jumpy edginess and refines and expands it into glistening paranoiac panoramas. It’s not just Aroyo’s use of her native language that gives the album a sense of Cold War romance: “Predict the Day” traps Marnie’s sung protestations (“I never thought/ I didn’t think twice”) between sinister whistling and an oppressive crunching synth. “Season of Illusions” is as wooze-inducing as a flickering overhead light bulb.
But Ladytron have also always had elements of Futuristic Noir and those come across strongly, too. The synthetic, dreamy, blade-running grandeur of “Deep Blue” is reminiscent of a modernized Vangelis or a restrained Jean Michel Jarre. "Runaway" is dark and handsome enough to get away with shamelessly borrowing from Heaven 17’s “Let Me Go.”
Velocifero shows Ladytron stepping firmly into the shadows, but not everything is veiled in gloom. The occasional sweet sound or upward lifting chord is all the more effective, silver spotlights in the darkness, and the overall effect is compelling. -
They Say...
With each album, Ladytron take their sound in distinctly different directions, but the aloof, glamorous, slightly sinister and more than a little bittersweet heart of their music remains the same. The changes from 604's sweet synth pop to Light & Magic's dark electro-pop to Witching Hour's epic shoegaze didn't sound like dabbling, precisely because the band has such a strong grip on exactly what they want to express with their music. Ladytron haven't lost that grip on Velocifero; in fact, they may be holding on to it a little too strongly here. Massive and sparkling, as dark and glossy as black patent leather, the album is so sleek, so quintessentially Ladytron, that it almost feels like the band has their sound literally down to a science, fusing Light & Magic's hard-edged dance and Witching Hour's Wall of Sound into songs like "The Lovers," "Deep Blue," and "They Gave You a Name." Velocifero does have some inspired moments, particularly at the beginning. "Ghosts" is sweetly ominous, riding a stomping shuffle beat and a careening guitar solo as Helena Marnie puts a fine point on her regrets ("There's a ghost in me/who wants to say I'm sorry/Doesn't mean I'm sorry"). "Runaway"'s punchy, cavernous sound recalls the heyday of industrial dance, which may not be such a surprise, considering that former Nine Inch Nails contributor Alessandro Cortini (also of Modwheelmood) worked on Velocifero, along with Ed Banger's Vicarious Bliss. As always, Mira Aroya acts as the acerbic yang to Marnie's ethereal yin, and she's in fine form here, particularly on "Black Cat," which opens Velocifero with a darkly hypnotic groove and a canyon-deep bassline, and on the quirky "Kletva," a cover of a song from a Bulgarian children's movie that brings back some of the playfulness Ladytron largely abandoned after 604. However, as Velocifero unfolds, the songs aren't quite as memorable as they've been on previous albums, and a few ("Burning Up," "Tomorrow") are downright dull and repetitive. The taut, tribal "Predict the Day" and "Versus," a symphonic synth pop duet, close the album on a strong note, and there are more than enough bright spots for fans to enjoy, Overall, though, Velocifero isn't as dramatic a step forward as Ladytron's other albums.
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| 01. |  |
Black Cat |
5:08 |
|
| 02. | |
Ghosts |
4:42 |
|
| 03. | |
I'm Not Scared |
3:58 |
|
| 04. | |
Runaway |
4:50 |
|
| 05. | |
Season of Illusions |
4:01 |
|
| 06. | |
Burning Up |
4:09 |
|
| 07. | |
Kletva
|
2:42 |
|
| 08. | |
They Gave You A Heart, They Gave You A Name |
3:28 |
|
| 09. | |
Predict The Day |
4:25 |
|
| 10. | |
The Lovers |
2:38 |
|
| 11. | |
Deep Blue |
5:02 |
|
| 12. | |
Tomorrow |
3:36 |
|
| 13. | |
Versus |
5:44 |
|
13 Total Tracks, 54:23 Total Length
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Credits
- Michael Patterson - Mixing // Semay Wu - Cello // Ladytron - Producer // Stéphane Gallois - Photography // Erwan Quinio - Engineer // Alessandro Cortini - Producer // Daniel Woodward - Engineer // Javier Benitez - Musician // Alex Hasson - Assistant // Tim Husom - Management // Peter Salmang - Musician
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