daylies music: Brit Music Scene

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Brit Music Scene

La Roux Success Could Signal Another Eighties Revival

Posted: 01 Jul 2009 01:23 PM PDT

La Roux are a new British duo, not a solo act like many have assumed. Elly Jackson is the quiff-wearing front woman, with co-writer and co-producer Ben Langmaid taking a more backseat role. Think of the Pet Shop Boys if Chris Lowe stayed even more in the background than he does already. Their music is a mix of electro-pop and dance, all with an eighties flavor running through it.

La Roux have already released two singles, Quicksand and In For The Kill, the latter of which managed to reach number two in the UK singles chart. Then came their third release, Bulletproof (video embedded below), which hit number one at the weekend. Michael Jackson may have dominated the latest charts but it’s La Roux who made it to the top.

The question for me is whether this success signals yet another 1980s revival? It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened, and with La Roux looking and sounding like the love children of The Human League and Heaven 17, it seems likely to happen.

This song wouldn’t be the sort of music I’d ordinarily listen to. Any regular readers of Brit Music Scene would realize my first love is guitar-based music, such as indie or rock. But I must confess to liking Bulletproof. A lot. It’s ultra-catchy, fun enough to grab you by the ear hole but serious enough not to come across as a parody of everything eighties.

Jackson’s quiff would make Elvis jealous, and the styling of the video is at once both modern and retro, which is a hard balancing act to pull off. It all adds up to a heady mix which will draw in both older music lovers and the scenesters looking for the next big thing. Which right now is La Roux.

I was just too young to really be influenced by the 1980s, the nineties was my decade, so I wouldn’t mind if it came round again. Let’s just hope that if it does then the hair doesn’t get any bigger than Elly Jackson’s because I’m starting to lose mine and I couldn’t compete.

[Photo Source: Amazon.co.uk]

Post from: Brit Music Scene