Bands to Watch #42: La Roux

As someone at work pointed out at the weekend, I’m a big fan of elfin looking girls. You already know that I love synthy pop. So combine the two passions and, well, I need a good lay down to recover my senses.

That’s what happened on Saturday evening – I got home to find La Roux‘ sampler CD on the doormat. I put it on, expecting the usual middle-of-the-road stuff that is alright but nothing to rave about, like most promo CDs. Then I had to lay down. Reminiscent of classic electro-pop pioneers like Eurythmics and Depeche Mode, it is still completely modern and is just perfect for a few remixes which would have the lips of the new school of club goers licking their lips. Really.

Synthy, poppy and catchy, 20 year old Brixtonite Elly Jackson just has a way of making her tunes sound so familiar yet completely original. Forthcoming “Quicksand” manages to combine Annie Lennox’ haunting (at times) vocals with a touch of Human League and Prince, yet manages to sound like it’s some throwback from 2010, rather than a dodgy 80’s revival.

Some tracks like “In for The Kill” have amazing choruses that just yell out for you to start dancing madly with mates… like Alphabeat’s guilty-pleasure quality, but not so guilty.

Thankfully, it’s not just me that’s been raving about La Roux – NME called her “the coolest voice to come out of UK club….’Let’s Dance’ era Bowie meets The Knife”… and bloggers have been having wet dreams over her.

MP3: La Roux – Fascination

The most sickening thing? Elly Jackson is younger than me. God only knows what she’s gonna have come out with by the time she’s 30 – it’s quite scary to think she’s nowhere near her creative best and can still pump out such amazing tunes. And only on a demo.

La Roux’ Quicksand is out on 1st December on uber-cool Kitsune records. Preorder from Rough Trade here.