Ladytron Album: “Witching Hour”

This is my first purchase of a Ladytron album, actually my first purchase of anything of theirs, since I've only been a very casual fan since their beginning. I've really only heard their singles "He Took Her To The Movies" and "Seventeen". There is much more material on "Witching Hour" that grabs you at first listen, though. The songs may have more melody, for the most part. So it's not surprising that fans of their earlier work may feel jilted by their new pop accessibility (although I felt the early singles were accessible as well) or the disappearance of any existing eccentricities.

The single "Destroy Everything You Touch" has a driving dance beat reminiscent of the 80's hits of Depeche Mode or New Order. I couldn't stop playing this after I downloaded it from iTunes. Then you notice the other songs and practically everything has something to offer. There are no tracks that I skip (not counting the final silent track). Songs like "Sugar" and "Weekend" are the kind I love playing LOUD speeding down a dark highway. "Beauty*2" has a fragile, haunting quality to it and I wish it didn't end so soon. "International Dateline" is another that stays in my head days after I hear it. The whole album is well produced and SOUNDS great.

I would place this as probably my favorite album of 2005 after Thievery Corporation's "The Cosmic Game". I have no reason not check out Ladytron's earlier releases after hearing this stunning album. **** 1/2 stars.

Ladytron's third album, Witching Hour (Ryko), is something witches of yore might listen to, just as vampires might choose to feast on one of Portisehead's albums.

At first I waved this album off as an electro-clone, wondering if the monotonous girl vocals would ever leave this Fischerspooner-dominated genre. But after subsequent listens, I rebuked the comparison, and realized that not only are there some hidden gems on Witching Hour, this also isn't everyday electro: a healthy dose of indie rock creeps between the brooding dance tracks. Therefore it wasn't a big surprise to find that Jim Abiss (Placebo, DJ Shadow) produced the album.

Synths, humming basslines, and imposing beats don't leave much room for a change of pace. But when you're done with the distortion and droning vocals, so are they. The quartet of two girls and two guys from Liverpool can shake hips on "High Rise," give bar DJs a disturbingly sexy brew of German (?) lyrics to drool over on "Fighting in Built Up Areas," and perk up the lo-fi listeners' ears with "Beauty*2."

Witching Hour is in fact an apt title, in addition to the band's name, a sort of woman robot. But go ahead, let them put you under their spell. When I turn the CD off I'm no toad or rabbit, although I do feel like prowling a bar with a costume on...

I walked into my local music store to browse for some new music. Out of the over head speakers come what I would later learned to be a song called "Sugar". That driving bass sound, pounding drums, fuzzy yet melodic keyboards and those mesmerizingly understated female vocals caused my ears to perk, my head to bounce and foot to tap. At that point I had never heard of Ladytron but that one 2 minute 50 second song had me hooked. I walked out the store without purchasing the CD but the melody of that song was so strong that it forced me to go to my local electronics store to make the purchase. Am I sorry that I parted ways with the cash?

I bought this CD well over 4 weeks ago and it's been played, in its entirety, at least once per week. My four favorite songs are still played daily. In "High Rise", I'm drawn to (at least what I consider to be) the unusual pairing of background vocals accenting the lead vocals while not repeating the lyrics as well as those driving drums. "Destroy Everything You Touch" also has an unusual pairing of a catchy melody with words that speak of observing a rather negative individual and danceable music. The pull that "Sugar" has on me has already been established. Initially, it was the music that I liked but now, I find the lyrics of "Weekend" to be fascinating. Who would thought that great music and fascinating lyrics would make for a great song?

I'm anxious to hear if their other releases have the same quality of the music on "Witching Hour". I must say this has the potential to be a beautiful "electronica band/new electronica music fan" relationship.

Ladytron may have come up in the era of electroclash, but this album ensures the group will be around after trucker hats go out of style. Sure, there are dancefloor bangers that will get silver spoons bouncing around necks everywhere. But there's a surprising amount of depth and variety here, and best of all, there's actual songcraft. Some of the softer guitar-led numbers bring to mind the Velvet Underground, the Cocteau Twins, and "Psychocandy"-era Jesus and Mary Chain. The vocals are often highly reverbed like on early Sonic Youth records, resulting in a haunting, ghostly sound. The album manages to sound both icy and soft, and is consistently enjoyable throughout.

From start to finish this album is CLASS!!! Whenever I'm listening to this album I get lost in it's beauty, it's sooo haunting sooo icy, soooo wintery, soooo dense... yet it's got a heart and it feels warm at times! At times it's really rocking, other times it's just sooo soft and mellow it's an album full of contradictions and that's why it's soooo great!!!

01. High Rise - 9.75/10 - What a grand-rocking start to such a great album! Whenever I'm listening to this song I feel like I'm driving somewhere really fast... It's a song that really builds a landscape! Helen sings "we're on the same high you and I" that says it all I guess!

02. Destroy Everything You Touch - 9.65/10 - The POP song of this album and the obvious single! It's got a killer chorus, one that sticks to your mind yet it's not one that you get fed up of easily... While High Rise gives a rocking start to the album Destroy is synth drenched, with references to 90's euro-pop and top notch stop-start dynamics... fantastic stuff!

03. International Dateline - 10/10 - My favourite song on the album... It's got such a dampy start and it feels so cold, tearful and terrifying when Helen softly speaks "Woke up in the evening, To the sound of the screaming, Through walls that were bleeding, All over me"... The song progresses slowly, and Helen's voice sends shivers to my spines when she sings "let's end it here, let's leave it here" until the song almost gets rocking. Although it's such a dark song, the groovy drummings makes this song dancible and that's why it takes full marks!

04. AMTV - 8.7/10 - One of the "weaker" songs on the album, which is still great but by the standards of this album, it's one of my least favourites. The song is definitely a highlight on the album because of Mira's singing otherwise it's pretty average stuff

05. SUGAR - 9/10 - Probably the most rocking song of the album... Ladytron here pick guitars and rock out for nearly 3 minutes. It's such a cute song and I love it, the only downfall of it is that it's a bit repetitive, but the driving guitars make the song a wonderful experiment for the band!

06. SOFT POWER - 9.5/10 - This is the centre-piece and another masterpiece of THE WITCHING HOUR! Here is where Ladytron gets really weird. The synths and Helen's ghostly voice are sooo haunting and creepy, Soft Power almost screams "goth"... It's definitely the darkest song on this album as Helen sings "daylight is the enemy". There's also a strange countermelody which helps making this the densest song they've ever done!

07. CMYK - 8.8/10 - The shortest song on the album. Clocks just after 1 minute but it's a beautiful haunting instrumental interlude!

08. FIGHTING IN BUILT UP AREAS - 9.5/10 - This might be the harshest song on the album. It's somewhere between industrial dance and synth rock. It's the counterpart to Soft Power and it's probably the most awkward song in here that takes a couple of listens to get into but once you get into it u can almost dance with it despite being in my opinion the second densiest song on the album! This song is sung by Mira and it's in Bulgarian, which helps in giving it a kind of a cold harsh Eastern European feel.

09. Last One Standing - 9.7 - After 3 really dark and dense songs Ladytron return to their sweet side with such a lovely song. It's the first I fell in love with after Destroy and Sugar! It also brings memories of Playgirl as it's one of the softer songs on Witching Hour. Last One Standing takes bonus points in my opinion because of it's contrasts. It's another song drenched in icy synchs yet the chiming bells bring a kind of warm feeling to this song! I wished it was longer than it's 3 minutes as it passes by so fast unfortunately!

10. Weekend - 9.8/10 It's a song that boasts a terrific, motorik style rhythm, and returns Ladytron to their rocking sounds featured before on High Rise and Sugar. Although it's not as "hard", this one is my favourite of the rock songs. Lyrically it's about a girl who, goes to work, doesn't enjoy her life and attaches herself with the material world kind of, and becomes a number just like everyone else and in the end Helen sings "You took the end, out of weekend", it's like she's saying don't take life so seriouly and enjoy it while u can... excellent stuff!

11. Beauty 2 - 9.9/10 - My 2nd favourite. This song is so fragile and vulnerable. Probably the slowest song on the album. It's kind of dreamy as well yet in the middle of this there's a dance fueled breakdown and from there the song changes completely. In the 2nd part of the song Helen's voice shows more emotions and from there the song really excells. The final 30 seconds of the song are so breezy whith the synths creating a spacy atmospheric feel to the song! You can't help bust getting lost with this song!

12. WHITE LIGHT GENERATION - 9.4 - Helen here gives a more laid back effort. While not being such a highlight song it's a pretty dream-pop, lushy tune and could as well serve the band as a new direction for future albums.

13. ALL THE WAY... - 9.8 - Perfect closer! It's probably the coldest song in here. It feels as if snow is actually falling on you and freezing your body as Helen sings "they heard the sound of the snow falling". It's a perfect-ambient farewell to such an album and it doesn't stop there... There's a hidden track that ends the whole witching hour in perfect silence! What a way to finish a surprisingly glorious hour in your life!