Recently heard: Velocifero
Jun. 5th, 2008 14:53![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
viktor_haagAfter some anticipation, especially after the uniformly excellent "Witching Hour", I snapped up Ladytron's latest, "Velocifero", pretty much instant it was available through the iTunes Music Store in my region.
For those with the (perhaps valid) criticism that "Witching Hour" had not enough Bulgarian, and not enough of Mira Aroyo's dark, foreboding tones. "Velocifero" addresses that to some extent: "Black Cat" and "Kletva" principally feature Aroyo, and not in English, where as "Season of Illusions" features her in English. But three out of thirteen still feels a bit spare, perhaps.
There are some notable weak points on this album: the seemingly pointless three-word choral repetition of "Runaway" followed by the only slightly less dreary "Season of Illusions" (which high point is that the lead vocal duties are handled by Aroyo, giving the tune a dark edge it just wouldn't have otherwise: and to prove that point, it sits right after "Runaway" as a point of cruel comparison). The somewhat anti-melodic "Predict the Day" also seems a bit like an experiment that just doesn't quite work. And the vocals on "Versus" are handled by Marnie in duet with a male voice, Daniel Hunt or Reuben Wu I assume, which was interesting but I didn't think quite worked.
Still, the album has its strong points. As with "Witching Hour", it starts out quite strong: the first three tracks are good, especially "Ghosts". The back half of the album isn't as strong as the front, but "They Gave You a Heart, They Gave You a Name", "The Lovers", "Deep Blue", and "Tomorrow" are all strong enough to bring the album home to a satisfactory finish.
Ladytron are evolving. This isn't the same seamless synth-pop found in "604" and "Light and Magic". But it's not the uniformly strong, hard-edged "Witching Hour" either. It's not a step backward, but it's not as far a step forward. Recommended for fans, and even tentatively recommended outside that. I widely evangelize "Witching Hour", which I wouldn't do with this, but if you like their other albums I can't see you'd be disappointed with this one.
Postscript: I find it a bit amusing that, although AllMusic's review pretty much accords with my general opinion, there are some interesting differences. Where as I liked "Tomorrow", and thought it was a strong track, the boffins thought it "downright dull and repetitive". By contrast, I would have used exactly those words to describe "Runaway" (and did!), the boffins recommend the track (sic) and say "[track's] punchy, cavernous sound recalls the heyday of industrial dance". Well. This may help underscore why I was never a big fan of the industrial dance movement, and far prefer the melodic (brief) pop of "Tomorrow".
For those with the (perhaps valid) criticism that "Witching Hour" had not enough Bulgarian, and not enough of Mira Aroyo's dark, foreboding tones. "Velocifero" addresses that to some extent: "Black Cat" and "Kletva" principally feature Aroyo, and not in English, where as "Season of Illusions" features her in English. But three out of thirteen still feels a bit spare, perhaps.
There are some notable weak points on this album: the seemingly pointless three-word choral repetition of "Runaway" followed by the only slightly less dreary "Season of Illusions" (which high point is that the lead vocal duties are handled by Aroyo, giving the tune a dark edge it just wouldn't have otherwise: and to prove that point, it sits right after "Runaway" as a point of cruel comparison). The somewhat anti-melodic "Predict the Day" also seems a bit like an experiment that just doesn't quite work. And the vocals on "Versus" are handled by Marnie in duet with a male voice, Daniel Hunt or Reuben Wu I assume, which was interesting but I didn't think quite worked.
Still, the album has its strong points. As with "Witching Hour", it starts out quite strong: the first three tracks are good, especially "Ghosts". The back half of the album isn't as strong as the front, but "They Gave You a Heart, They Gave You a Name", "The Lovers", "Deep Blue", and "Tomorrow" are all strong enough to bring the album home to a satisfactory finish.
Ladytron are evolving. This isn't the same seamless synth-pop found in "604" and "Light and Magic". But it's not the uniformly strong, hard-edged "Witching Hour" either. It's not a step backward, but it's not as far a step forward. Recommended for fans, and even tentatively recommended outside that. I widely evangelize "Witching Hour", which I wouldn't do with this, but if you like their other albums I can't see you'd be disappointed with this one.
Postscript: I find it a bit amusing that, although AllMusic's review pretty much accords with my general opinion, there are some interesting differences. Where as I liked "Tomorrow", and thought it was a strong track, the boffins thought it "downright dull and repetitive". By contrast, I would have used exactly those words to describe "Runaway" (and did!), the boffins recommend the track (sic) and say "[track's] punchy, cavernous sound recalls the heyday of industrial dance". Well. This may help underscore why I was never a big fan of the industrial dance movement, and far prefer the melodic (brief) pop of "Tomorrow".
