04 October 2020
15th years anniversary for Witching Hour
Ladytron posted some pictures from the Witching Hour sessions on their Instagram account. Happy anniversary to this fantastic album released on 3rd October 2005!
30 September 2020
Helen Marnie collaborated with the band Union of Knives
The latest release from Union of Knives is the first of two collaborations with Helen Marnie. Her vocals both dual and blend with Anthony’s on the track as it steadily rises to a hypnotic chanted crescendo.
Helen had this to say, "I wanted to create a state of confusion and a feeling of being on the edge with the mantra 'Who am I?' But that feeling quickly disperses into something beautiful and hopeful when Anthony sings. A Tall Tale is a journey. Fare thee well."
Anthony, Pete and Chris who currently constitute the hardcore of Union of Knives, were delighted with Helen's contribution, as Anthony says, "I was hypnotised by the track when I first heard it with Helen's ethereal vocals and delivery. I'm over the moon with this collaboration! The repetitive mantra 'who am I' is a question we ask ourselves every day. For me it is like meditating while dancing."
Source
03 May 2020
01 May 2020
New "Deadzone" remix, T-shirts, signed test pressings and cassettes
Some news from Ladytron:
This Friday May 1, from midnight to midnight (Pacific US), Bandcamp will be waiving its commission to help artists. We have a new remix of “Deadzone” by HQFU, 604 t-shirt, Destroy shirts, plus 5 signed test pressings and cassettes of the latest album.This Friday May 1, from midnight to midnight (Pacific US).
This Friday May 1, from midnight to midnight (Pacific US), Bandcamp will be waiving its commission to help artists. We have a new remix of “Deadzone” by HQFU, 604 t-shirt, Destroy shirts, plus 5 signed test pressings and cassettes of the latest album.This Friday May 1, from midnight to midnight (Pacific US).
05 February 2020
18 December 2019
Ladytron - KEXP, 2019
Note: The audio is from a podcast posted on kexp.org. I split the audio track into tracks with Mp3DirectCut (lossless operation), added tags with Mp3Tag and made a cover.
Track listing:
01. Intro
02. Tower of Glass
03. Deadzone
04. Interview
05. Paper Highways
06. The Island
07. Outro
Download
07 October 2019
Ladytron - Sofia, Bulgaria, 2003
Note: recorded by Biser Angelov; converted to MP3, split into tracks, tags, cover by me.
Track listing:
01. True Mathematics
02. Blue Jeans
03. Light & Magic
04. He Took Her to a Movie
05. Fire
06. Turn It On
07. Black Plastic
08. Evil
09. USA vs. White Noise
10. Seventeen
11. Commodore Rock
12. Discotraxx
13. Cease2xist
14. Oops Oh My
15. The Way That I Found You
Download
21 September 2019
MusicOMH interview (2019)
This Music Made Me: Ladytron
Following the release of two enthusiastically received singles, The Island and The Animals, Ladytron distills 20 years of experimentation into one propulsive album. The band again push the boundaries of electronic pop in invigorating directions with thirteen songs that explore the disquiet of our times. Loaded with their trademark analogue synths propelled by relentless rhythm, their eponymous sixth release is a hypercharged record that radiates a visceral urgency.
On the release week of Ladytron, principal songwriter Daniel Hunt returns to his roots and influences for Ladytron's This Music Made Me...
Amanda Lear - Sweet Revenge
Ran into her at a party during the Cannes film festival, which I do understand sounds like the only circumstances where a chance meeting with Amanda Lear could or would occur.A friend introduced me as a member of Ladytron, she responded "Oui Oui, the days when Bryan Ferry didn't need to dye his hair" and just floated off into the sunset.
Chrisma - Chinese Restaurant
I lived in Milan for five years or so, was naturally played a lot of Italian new wave, disco and post punk by friends (incidentally, nobody there recognised the genre "Italo Disco"), and was introduced to this by Chrisma (Krisma).Later it was a honour to discover that Maurizio Arcieri was a fan of our band.
Pink Industry - Low Technology
I actually joined this band for their comeback show in 2012, 25 years since they had performed, a one off in São Paulo.It was incredible really, the group were far more popular in that enormous city than they were anywhere else, which was all down to a few influential DJs during the 80s. Jayne Casey is a dear friend and High Priestess of Liverpool.
Lush - Gala
Though this was a compilation not an album per se, it always stood up as one.Hearing Deluxe for the first time was a gateway to a lot of new music and was the trigger for a shift in my tastes.
I was still at school, and could not have contemplated that 25 years in the future I would be working on their new record with them.
France Gall - 1968
There was a phase in the years before the band began when this stuff was practically all I listened to. I was obsessed.I travelled to Paris regularly to buy vinyl – in those days not out of collector fetishism, but simply because it was the only way to get the music.
It was during these trips that I met Bertrand Burgalat, Kahimi Karie and the crew around Tricatel records, who Ladytron ended up releasing an early EP with. When France Gall died I was mourned like everyone did for Bowie and Prince.
Rush - Permanent Waves
So much ideologically wrong with Rush but Freewill is a banger – you can't argue with that.I once wiped out the dance floor at a techno party at Amsterdam Paradiso with it when DJing with Soulwax. Sorry about that.
Dalek I Love You - Compass kum'pəs
I have to include at least one from Eric's-era Liverpool.Dalek I gets in here because my friend Jackie and I used to sing an adaptation of Destiny, the big tune from this record, when we were en-route to our local cafe for breakfast: "Coffee I love you. Coffee I love you. We're going to save the world. We're going to change your world."
Alan Gill went on to do the score for Letter to Brezhnev which was hugely influential on me.
United States of America - United States of America
This is an example of a record that was disproportionately popular in Liverpool during the early 1990s.It was amongst of a group of psych rarities that were reissued around that time that were staples on our scene, whilst somehow seeming peripheral for our friends in London.
I'm not sure if that kind of thing still even happens, I'd like to think it does.
The Walkmen - Bows + Arrows
I played this to death, and those songs, like 138th Street, are burned into my memories of that time.It was a period when we were practically never home.
Os Mutantes - Os Mutantes
I was given this as a gift by a friend in Japan around 1995 or so. He was really keen for me to have it.Twenty years of twists and turns later I was living in Brazil.
Source
16 September 2019
08 August 2019
Far From Home: Night Versions
A new EP with remixes of Ladytron's single "Far From Home" will be released on 30 August 2019. Titled Far From Home: Night Versions, this EP will include remixes from Dave the Hustler, Lucas Frota, Blakkat, Wetworks, and Hiroko Yamamura & Eric Elvambuena. You can listen to Dave the Hustler remix here.
04 June 2019
Ladytron - Sofia, Bulgaria, 2003
Setlist:
01. True Mathematics
02. Blue Jeans
03. Light & Magic
04. He Took Her to a Movie
05. Fire
06. Turn It On
07. Black Plastic
08. Evil
09. USA vs. White Noise
10. Seventeen
11. Commodore Rock
12. Discotraxx
13. Cease2xist
14. Oops Oh My
15. The Way That I Found You
Download
09 April 2019
New Ladytron tour dates
31 May 2019 - Kraken, Stockholm, Sweden
06 Jun 2019 - Investia Hall, Moscow, Russia
26 Jul 2019 - Low Festival, Benidorm, Spain
27 Jul 2019 - Razzmatazz, Barcelona, Spain
28 Jul 2019 - La Riviera, Madrid, Spain
02 Oct 2019 - Brooklyn Steel, NYC, USA
03 Oct 2019 - Boston – Royale, Boston, USA
04 Oct 2019 - Le SAT, Montreal, Canada
05 Oct 2019 - Danforth Music Hall, Toronto
29 March 2019
mxdwn interview (2019)
What built up to the eight-year hiatus and how did it end?
We released five albums in 10 years from 2001 to 2011 with a lot of touring around the world in between. It was time for a break, but we did not expect it to last quite so long. Life took over as it does. We moved countries, continents, had families and so on. Finally, in 2016 we were all ready to begin working on a new album. The hardest part was keeping quiet about it for two years.
This album addresses a global social unrest. Why did it feel important to say something?
It's more simple than that; like anyone, we are influenced by our surroundings. The themes of the album are actually very personal, not about events or currents. But the disquiet of this moment is background noise that nobody is immune from and cannot help but be affected by.
What has it been like working all together again?
Enjoyable, we have spent so long apart. It is easier to get back on-board than we imagined.
How did you approach the creation of this album, this new chapter for Ladytron?
We planned to take a break after 2011's Gravity the Seducer, but we envisaged it would be maybe a few years. In the end, it was June 2016 before we came together to begin making a new album when all of us were ready in both our personal and professional lives to do it.
Have you found changes in the music scene after the years that you've had to contend with as a band?
As a group we have never paid much attention to what is happening outside. There have been changes for sure, but not ones that we feel particularly affected by. For example, technological changes—we're natives to the way music is made and consumed today as the seeds of this were planted right around when we began.
"The Animals" has some pretty intense opening lines — why was that the first song you decided to share?
It was the first song that was ready, but also we felt it was the correct one to release first. It sounds like Ladytron, it is also in many ways unlike anything we had done before, certainly lyrically.
The three songs released from the album express some nihilistic views. Does the album go on to provide any messages of hope or comfort?
We consider the album hopeful. We are not nihilists. The imagery is there because it reflects the moment we are in, a reckoning with the present. That is also an escape route.
Given the themes of the songs, would you say the album is a cathartic work, or a cautionary message to take action?
More a catharsis. We don't consider it a comment on the times we are in, more a snapshot. In a sense, those themes are the landscape inside which we experienced the personal experiences which inspired the songs.
How are you preparing to start the tour together again? Anywhere particular you're excited to stop at?
Right now, we are in Mexico. We then go to California. Two places that were always good to us, and important at the very beginning, and a fitting place to start.
Source
10 March 2019
99.3 County FM interview (2019)
Interview with Helen Marnie on 17 February 2019. Some highlights:
Helen said that her solo albums played a part in the delaying the sixth Ladytron album.
The interviewer asked if Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music had anything to say about the band's name. Helen replied that she doesn't know and added that she thinks that Daniel met Bryan Ferry and he definitely met his son.
The interviewer also wondered why Brian Eno didn't ask Ladytron to produce a track. Helen said that "well... we never know, maybe in the future". The interviewer then mentioned "at least remix something by Ladytron" and Helen said "it's something we should remedy".
Helen said that Mira has 2 kids now.
Get Some Magazine interview (2019)
Brenton Woodrow: How has your time apart influenced your most recent album?
Helen Marnie: A lot can happen in 7 years, and a lot has happened for us all. Some of us have moved continents, started families, began new work endeavors, and generally just dealt with the hand that has been dealt to us. All that can creep in and play a part in what you create.
BW: As your style has changed over the years what do you see as the defining elements of a Ladytron song?
HM: I think we're constantly trying to challenge ourselves musically, but we also know what is quintessentially Ladytron, and what makes us stand out from the crowd. That comes from the very recognizable vocals of myself and Mira, submerged in the warmth of synths.
BW: You've toured all over the world, what have been the most memorable tour moments or shows?
HM: I'm currently in Mexico City and we play our first show here in 8 years, so I'm really hoping it's going be amazing as the crowds have been so wild previously, but asides from what I'm looking forward to right now my favorite gigs from the past are probably Bogota, Columbia, and also having the opportunity to play the Sydney Opera House as part of Brian Eno's curated festival.
BW: Having done a few collaborations over the years with artists like Christina Aguilera and RM Hubbert, do you have a dream collaboration with any artist living or dead?
HM: There are loads of artists I'd love to collaborate with because I think that's when you produce your most interesting work. I recently hung out with Jake Shears and I reckon it'd be cool to make something with him. I'd also love to make a dance track with my friend Reggie Watts. He's an all-around super talent.
BW: The Harmonium Sessions were an interesting foray into an acoustic sound, has the band ever considered a fully acoustic album?
HM: I doubt that will happen because we're too concentrated on exploring our sound and developing what we can do with technology. It's nice to create things like the Harmonium Sessions, but that would be more of a sister record to the real deal.
BW: Why is this album your self titled album?
HM: For us, there really was no other option than to come back. It suggests a fresh, new start. It embodies everything that Ladytron is, wrapped up in an eponymous title.
BW: What emotions or experience do you hope the listener takes away from "Ladytron"? How is that different from previous albums?
HM: I think all we can ever hope for is that people come away after listening to the album and feel some sort of connection. For me that is key. I don't want to alienate people, I want them to read into my lyrics what they will, and really make them relevant to their own lives. So whether that is sadness, joy, anger, fear, or hope, it doesn't matter.
BW: What's the tour environment like off stage? Do you all hang out together and experience the cities you visit?
HM: We do try to fit in some downtime and experience the culture of the places we visit, but it's not always possible due to tight schedules. Also, jet lag can be a killer and sometimes scuppers plans. But, we do all hang out together, go for food, have some drinks, and generally just try to enjoy the time we have in a city.
BW: What was more fun, having music featured in the Sims or being in Yo Gabba Gabba?
HM: Both were pretty fun experiences. I remember writing the lyrics for The Sims, then having them sent back to me in Simlish and having to record the vocals. I loved not singing in my own tongue and having this secret language. Yo Gabba Gabba was a different kettle of fish because we were actually there in studio filming and being silly. Because it was a kids tv programme we felt like we could let loose a little, and I think you can see that in Reuben's spectacular synth antics.
BW: Do you listen to your own music? If so what format and venue do you prefer? MP3 + headphones? Car stereo and CD? Record player?
HM: I do actually. In fact, I've been listening to the Ladytron record for about a year normally in the car. It says a lot that I'm still not sick of it.
Thank you to Helen Marnie for this insightful Q&A.
Source
Helen Marnie: A lot can happen in 7 years, and a lot has happened for us all. Some of us have moved continents, started families, began new work endeavors, and generally just dealt with the hand that has been dealt to us. All that can creep in and play a part in what you create.
HM: I think we're constantly trying to challenge ourselves musically, but we also know what is quintessentially Ladytron, and what makes us stand out from the crowd. That comes from the very recognizable vocals of myself and Mira, submerged in the warmth of synths.
BW: You've toured all over the world, what have been the most memorable tour moments or shows?
HM: I'm currently in Mexico City and we play our first show here in 8 years, so I'm really hoping it's going be amazing as the crowds have been so wild previously, but asides from what I'm looking forward to right now my favorite gigs from the past are probably Bogota, Columbia, and also having the opportunity to play the Sydney Opera House as part of Brian Eno's curated festival.
BW: Having done a few collaborations over the years with artists like Christina Aguilera and RM Hubbert, do you have a dream collaboration with any artist living or dead?
HM: There are loads of artists I'd love to collaborate with because I think that's when you produce your most interesting work. I recently hung out with Jake Shears and I reckon it'd be cool to make something with him. I'd also love to make a dance track with my friend Reggie Watts. He's an all-around super talent.
BW: The Harmonium Sessions were an interesting foray into an acoustic sound, has the band ever considered a fully acoustic album?
HM: I doubt that will happen because we're too concentrated on exploring our sound and developing what we can do with technology. It's nice to create things like the Harmonium Sessions, but that would be more of a sister record to the real deal.
BW: Why is this album your self titled album?
HM: For us, there really was no other option than to come back. It suggests a fresh, new start. It embodies everything that Ladytron is, wrapped up in an eponymous title.
BW: What emotions or experience do you hope the listener takes away from "Ladytron"? How is that different from previous albums?
HM: I think all we can ever hope for is that people come away after listening to the album and feel some sort of connection. For me that is key. I don't want to alienate people, I want them to read into my lyrics what they will, and really make them relevant to their own lives. So whether that is sadness, joy, anger, fear, or hope, it doesn't matter.
HM: We do try to fit in some downtime and experience the culture of the places we visit, but it's not always possible due to tight schedules. Also, jet lag can be a killer and sometimes scuppers plans. But, we do all hang out together, go for food, have some drinks, and generally just try to enjoy the time we have in a city.
BW: What was more fun, having music featured in the Sims or being in Yo Gabba Gabba?
HM: Both were pretty fun experiences. I remember writing the lyrics for The Sims, then having them sent back to me in Simlish and having to record the vocals. I loved not singing in my own tongue and having this secret language. Yo Gabba Gabba was a different kettle of fish because we were actually there in studio filming and being silly. Because it was a kids tv programme we felt like we could let loose a little, and I think you can see that in Reuben's spectacular synth antics.
BW: Do you listen to your own music? If so what format and venue do you prefer? MP3 + headphones? Car stereo and CD? Record player?
HM: I do actually. In fact, I've been listening to the Ladytron record for about a year normally in the car. It says a lot that I'm still not sick of it.
Thank you to Helen Marnie for this insightful Q&A.
Source
08 March 2019
Billboard interview (2019)
Musicians are not machines, even if they use them, and by the end of 2011 and the Gravity the Seducer cycle, the members of Ladytron needed a break. Lead singer/synthesist Helen Marnie says that life in the group had been a constant since they banded together in 1999, and they needed to spread their wings. "If you don't have that spark, it will come across," notes Marnie of the creative process. "It was never like this thing that we would take a year or two years off. It was unspoken, but no one thought that it would take this long."
During their unexpected hiatus, three of the four members moved away from their London home base. Mira Aroyo remained there, while Marnie returned to her hometown of Glasgow, Daniel Hunt relocated to Sao Paolo, and Reuben Wu nested in Chicago. Hunt has since worked on movies scores and co-produced projects including the Blind Spot EP for Lush in 2016 and Marnie's first solo album Crystal World in 2013. Arroyo has been producing documentaries, while Wu has traveled and indulged in his photography.
Hunt encouraged Marnie to dive into her solo music because he felt she had the material, and both her crowdfunded debut and 2017's Strange Words and Weird Wars were well received. The latter, a dynamic, dark-leaning effort that was among the best releases of 2017, was produced by Jonny Scott, who co-wrote a couple of the tracks.
"That was a different kind of kettle of fish because there was no Ladytron connection," says Marnie of her sophomore effort. "I enjoyed that more because I feel like some people didn't give me the credit that I was due on the first album. Maybe they thought that Danny wrote all the songs and I just sung them, that I hadn't put the work in. But it was my album. This one was quite different from Crystal World.
"I absolutely loved doing it," Marnie says of her solo work. "But it was also very, very stressful because I didn't have any backing and didn't have a label."
But after two solo albums, Marnie – with new material in hand – was ready for Ladytron's return. "We'd not been together for a long time, and it just felt right," she says.
Like her second solo release, the new Ladytron album is dark. Lyrical themes of transition, feeling unsettled and apocalyptic angst run through the self-titled album. That wasn't pre-planned. "We've never discussed lyrics between us really, unless there's a track that hasn't had lyrics," says Marnie. "Then we've gone into the studio and completed them there, but that's very rare. We never discuss themes beforehand. It all seems to just come together and click. I feel it would be odd for us to discuss things like that with each other."
One such song was "Figurine," for which they had music in the studio but no lyrics. Hunt conjured three words that Marnie then spun other lyrics around. "I kind of panicked and the night before was up super late trying to work this song out," she recalls. "Then Danny and I did go over it the day that we were due to record it."
Given that the members don't discuss their lyrics before bringing them to the band, you might think it's challenging for Marnie to engage with the material. "Maybe that's why my delivery's quite detached," she says, laughing. "For me, it's more about interpreting the sound of the words. How you emphasize certain words is important to me. That's kind of my delivery. It's less about, this is a love song, it needs to feel this way. I'm more concerned with the shape of the words, how my voice and my tone fit in with that. I think tone is so important. There are some vocalists I just can't stand because it's almost like they try too hard. For me anyway."
Many people have used the word "icy" to describe Ladytron's sound, but there's a lot of warmth there, too. "I think the iciness idea comes from people's perception of synthesizers and that they are somehow cold," muses Marnie. "That's so far from the truth because you can create anything with a synth, you know? You can make it really deep and fuzzy. They can create warmth, but I think that there is some confusion and that's where that iciness idea comes from."
The wild card on this self-titled album is Cavalera Conspiracy/ex-Sepultura drummer Igor Cavalera, whom they brought into the mix for a few tracks. His style lent a different energy to Ladytron's music, which diverges from the ferocious thrash and death metal he's known for playing (though he's also become a DJ in recent years and remains steeped in the traditional music of his Brazilian heritage).
"We just let him have free reign, and he would play over the tracks and completely transform them," says Marnie. "It was amazing. If you listen to some of the tracks, you'll hear they suddenly kickoff and almost sound like a carnival. That's him. I don't think that we would have got that from someone else really. It was quite inspiring to watch him."
Hunt met Cavalera after moving to Brazil, the latter's homeland, and initially thought they might hang out a lot. "And then Igor moved to London, so it didn't quite happen as he had planned," remarks Marnie. "He was a drinking buddy, and they're friends. Danny asked him if he would consider coming in for a day or two, and he was really up for it. It was great."
Even though the '80s are an obvious reference point for Ladytron, the specter of '60s pop and baroque pop occasionally emerges on new tracks like "Until The Fire" and "The Animals," not to mention those lush, gorgeous vocal harmonies on "The Mountain." Marnie ascribes that vibe to Hunt. She says he grew up with '60s club nights in the Motown and northern soul vein. "I think he's perhaps quite influenced by that more so probably than the rest of us," she says. "That's probably where it snuck in."
Marnie, who enjoys '80s pop as well as genre-blending '90s acts like Air and Massive Attack, grew up with classical music and played piano until she went to university.
"I was good, but I wasn't good enough," the singer confesses. "I was never going to be a classical pianist. But I did put in a lot of work when I was younger. All your friends would be out playing and you'd have to come in and do one to two hours a night. When you start to do well and get better and the grades are getting higher, it's much more work. That's how I grew up from about the age of eight. I studied piano. I love classical music. I like opera, I like singers like Maria Callas, and [composers like] Puccini and Verdi. Maybe that does kind of creep into my music, but I would think it'd be more in motifs and little riffs and things that might appear in classical music."
Certainly, the lyrical themes on Ladytron could work on an operatic scale. While the band members like to keep the meaning of their colorful prose cryptic, the imagery on the new album is dark and ominous on tracks like "Horrorscope" and "Deadzone." And at least one track is personal. "['You've Changed'] is "inspired by someone that I know," says Marnie. "Or used to know."
The album's closing track, "Tomorrow Is Another Day," summons a hopeful air, but even then, one might interpret it as a portent of renewed strife. "I read a review yesterday, and it was saying just that, like not fulfilling your destiny," says Marnie. "Like you're just saying, oh well, I can always do it again tomorrow. But when I wrote it, it wasn't really like that. I guess it's just your perspective. It is hopeful, and that's why it's the last track on the album. I think you always need that bit of a lift to round up and just finish on something that is positive or has the potential to be positive. It's a sad song for me. It's pretty emotional."
The dystopian video for second single "The Island" is producing emotional responses from the band's fans, too. It depicts a humanoid woman escaping a laboratory and exploring the countryside… until she's hunted down by unidentified officials who set her ablaze with a flamethrower. While Marnie says director Bryan M. Ferguson's video was not consciously modeled after Stranger Things, it does somewhat mirror images of Eleven after she breaks free from Hawkins Laboratory.
"If you some of his past work, it's so twisted and colorful," describes Marnie. "It's dark but full of color. It's so weird. It's like obscure film festival material, and that's just what he's always done. The song 'The Island' has that kind of dystopian, messed-up feel, and it's quite claustrophobic. He just wanted to convey that really and how humanity is fucked basically. That pretty much comes across in the video."
The singer loves the "Island" clip but soon learned that not everybody else would. "I showed it to a few people before it came out and they were horrified," recalls Marnie. "I just think they didn't think it would end that way. I think they were hopeful that it was going to turn out okay. We were like, 'nope, this is going down.' I don't think some people could really handle that."
Six albums into their career, the U.K. quarter have proven their staying power, surviving the short-lived electroclash boom they were initially tied to.
"It felt weird because I didn't think that we sounded anything like our contemporaries," admits Marnie. "In interviews, we used to get a bit pissed off, but now it's fine because not many of them have survived at all or made decent albums since 2003 or whenever. But we just kept putting things out, and I think we proved people wrong. I just think it was a really lazy, lazy label anyway, but it did characterize a time when electronic music was coming to the fore. Obviously now it's everywhere, but that was probably the start of it all."
Given that Ladytron's music is sculpted in the studio and involves multiple layers of sounds and sometimes vocals, there will be those listeners who, when experiencing them live, will want to know what they are listening to. For the group, that is not the point. "There's a lot of super fans and that really bothers them — they need to know, how much is live and how much isn't," says Marnie. "But they'll never know. Take 'The Mountain' off this album. How are you going to recreate that with four people on stage without having backing? It's just not possible."
Even if Aroyo can harmonize with Marnie for that song, "you're still not going to get the full sound [without help]," says the singer. "The general listener or concertgoer doesn't care about that, but there will always be a handful that it bothers them if it does not seem to be completely live. But this is as live as we can get it without losing what is part of Ladytron."
And that unmistakable sonic identity is what's helped them stand out all along.
Source
Hunt encouraged Marnie to dive into her solo music because he felt she had the material, and both her crowdfunded debut and 2017's Strange Words and Weird Wars were well received. The latter, a dynamic, dark-leaning effort that was among the best releases of 2017, was produced by Jonny Scott, who co-wrote a couple of the tracks.
"That was a different kind of kettle of fish because there was no Ladytron connection," says Marnie of her sophomore effort. "I enjoyed that more because I feel like some people didn't give me the credit that I was due on the first album. Maybe they thought that Danny wrote all the songs and I just sung them, that I hadn't put the work in. But it was my album. This one was quite different from Crystal World.
"I absolutely loved doing it," Marnie says of her solo work. "But it was also very, very stressful because I didn't have any backing and didn't have a label."
But after two solo albums, Marnie – with new material in hand – was ready for Ladytron's return. "We'd not been together for a long time, and it just felt right," she says.
Like her second solo release, the new Ladytron album is dark. Lyrical themes of transition, feeling unsettled and apocalyptic angst run through the self-titled album. That wasn't pre-planned. "We've never discussed lyrics between us really, unless there's a track that hasn't had lyrics," says Marnie. "Then we've gone into the studio and completed them there, but that's very rare. We never discuss themes beforehand. It all seems to just come together and click. I feel it would be odd for us to discuss things like that with each other."
One such song was "Figurine," for which they had music in the studio but no lyrics. Hunt conjured three words that Marnie then spun other lyrics around. "I kind of panicked and the night before was up super late trying to work this song out," she recalls. "Then Danny and I did go over it the day that we were due to record it."
Given that the members don't discuss their lyrics before bringing them to the band, you might think it's challenging for Marnie to engage with the material. "Maybe that's why my delivery's quite detached," she says, laughing. "For me, it's more about interpreting the sound of the words. How you emphasize certain words is important to me. That's kind of my delivery. It's less about, this is a love song, it needs to feel this way. I'm more concerned with the shape of the words, how my voice and my tone fit in with that. I think tone is so important. There are some vocalists I just can't stand because it's almost like they try too hard. For me anyway."
The wild card on this self-titled album is Cavalera Conspiracy/ex-Sepultura drummer Igor Cavalera, whom they brought into the mix for a few tracks. His style lent a different energy to Ladytron's music, which diverges from the ferocious thrash and death metal he's known for playing (though he's also become a DJ in recent years and remains steeped in the traditional music of his Brazilian heritage).
"We just let him have free reign, and he would play over the tracks and completely transform them," says Marnie. "It was amazing. If you listen to some of the tracks, you'll hear they suddenly kickoff and almost sound like a carnival. That's him. I don't think that we would have got that from someone else really. It was quite inspiring to watch him."
Hunt met Cavalera after moving to Brazil, the latter's homeland, and initially thought they might hang out a lot. "And then Igor moved to London, so it didn't quite happen as he had planned," remarks Marnie. "He was a drinking buddy, and they're friends. Danny asked him if he would consider coming in for a day or two, and he was really up for it. It was great."
Even though the '80s are an obvious reference point for Ladytron, the specter of '60s pop and baroque pop occasionally emerges on new tracks like "Until The Fire" and "The Animals," not to mention those lush, gorgeous vocal harmonies on "The Mountain." Marnie ascribes that vibe to Hunt. She says he grew up with '60s club nights in the Motown and northern soul vein. "I think he's perhaps quite influenced by that more so probably than the rest of us," she says. "That's probably where it snuck in."
Marnie, who enjoys '80s pop as well as genre-blending '90s acts like Air and Massive Attack, grew up with classical music and played piano until she went to university.
"I was good, but I wasn't good enough," the singer confesses. "I was never going to be a classical pianist. But I did put in a lot of work when I was younger. All your friends would be out playing and you'd have to come in and do one to two hours a night. When you start to do well and get better and the grades are getting higher, it's much more work. That's how I grew up from about the age of eight. I studied piano. I love classical music. I like opera, I like singers like Maria Callas, and [composers like] Puccini and Verdi. Maybe that does kind of creep into my music, but I would think it'd be more in motifs and little riffs and things that might appear in classical music."
Certainly, the lyrical themes on Ladytron could work on an operatic scale. While the band members like to keep the meaning of their colorful prose cryptic, the imagery on the new album is dark and ominous on tracks like "Horrorscope" and "Deadzone." And at least one track is personal. "['You've Changed'] is "inspired by someone that I know," says Marnie. "Or used to know."
The album's closing track, "Tomorrow Is Another Day," summons a hopeful air, but even then, one might interpret it as a portent of renewed strife. "I read a review yesterday, and it was saying just that, like not fulfilling your destiny," says Marnie. "Like you're just saying, oh well, I can always do it again tomorrow. But when I wrote it, it wasn't really like that. I guess it's just your perspective. It is hopeful, and that's why it's the last track on the album. I think you always need that bit of a lift to round up and just finish on something that is positive or has the potential to be positive. It's a sad song for me. It's pretty emotional."
The dystopian video for second single "The Island" is producing emotional responses from the band's fans, too. It depicts a humanoid woman escaping a laboratory and exploring the countryside… until she's hunted down by unidentified officials who set her ablaze with a flamethrower. While Marnie says director Bryan M. Ferguson's video was not consciously modeled after Stranger Things, it does somewhat mirror images of Eleven after she breaks free from Hawkins Laboratory.
The singer loves the "Island" clip but soon learned that not everybody else would. "I showed it to a few people before it came out and they were horrified," recalls Marnie. "I just think they didn't think it would end that way. I think they were hopeful that it was going to turn out okay. We were like, 'nope, this is going down.' I don't think some people could really handle that."
Six albums into their career, the U.K. quarter have proven their staying power, surviving the short-lived electroclash boom they were initially tied to.
"It felt weird because I didn't think that we sounded anything like our contemporaries," admits Marnie. "In interviews, we used to get a bit pissed off, but now it's fine because not many of them have survived at all or made decent albums since 2003 or whenever. But we just kept putting things out, and I think we proved people wrong. I just think it was a really lazy, lazy label anyway, but it did characterize a time when electronic music was coming to the fore. Obviously now it's everywhere, but that was probably the start of it all."
Given that Ladytron's music is sculpted in the studio and involves multiple layers of sounds and sometimes vocals, there will be those listeners who, when experiencing them live, will want to know what they are listening to. For the group, that is not the point. "There's a lot of super fans and that really bothers them — they need to know, how much is live and how much isn't," says Marnie. "But they'll never know. Take 'The Mountain' off this album. How are you going to recreate that with four people on stage without having backing? It's just not possible."
Even if Aroyo can harmonize with Marnie for that song, "you're still not going to get the full sound [without help]," says the singer. "The general listener or concertgoer doesn't care about that, but there will always be a handful that it bothers them if it does not seem to be completely live. But this is as live as we can get it without losing what is part of Ladytron."
And that unmistakable sonic identity is what's helped them stand out all along.
Source
02 March 2019
25 February 2019
22 February 2019
Reviews of the self-titled Ladytron album
Metacritic (78/100)
A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed (positive)
Allmusic (4/5)
Brooklyn Vegan (positive)
BUST Magazine (5/5)
Chicago Tribune (3/4)
Cryptic Rock (4/5)
Drowned in Sound (7/10)
Get Some Magazine (4/5)
God Is in the TV (6/10)
Impatto Sonoro (positive)
Indie Rocks (9/10)
Je ne sais pop (6.8/10)
Knox News (4.5/5)
Loud and Quiet (6/10)
Mojo (4/5)
MusicOMH (4/5)
mxdwn (positive)
Mystic Sons (7/10)
News Beezer (positive)
Nialler9 (positive)
NPR (positive)
Pitchfork (7.7)
Punk Rock Theory (4/5)
Q Magazine (4/5)
Release Magazine (7/10)
Sound of Violence (3.5/5)
Soundblab (positive)
Stereoboard (3.5/5)
The Arts Desk (positive)
The Electricity Club (positive)
The Guardian, first review (4/5)
The Guardian, second review (3/5)
The Line of Best Fit (7.5/10)
The Skinny (6/10)
The Straits Times (4/5)
Uncut (7/10)
Under the Radar (6.5/10)
XS Noise (positive)
Vada Magazine (positive)
A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed (positive)
Allmusic (4/5)
Brooklyn Vegan (positive)
BUST Magazine (5/5)
Chicago Tribune (3/4)
Cryptic Rock (4/5)
Drowned in Sound (7/10)
Get Some Magazine (4/5)
God Is in the TV (6/10)
Impatto Sonoro (positive)
Indie Rocks (9/10)
Je ne sais pop (6.8/10)
Knox News (4.5/5)
Loud and Quiet (6/10)
Mojo (4/5)
MusicOMH (4/5)
mxdwn (positive)
Mystic Sons (7/10)
News Beezer (positive)
Nialler9 (positive)
NPR (positive)
Pitchfork (7.7)
Punk Rock Theory (4/5)
Q Magazine (4/5)
Release Magazine (7/10)
Sound of Violence (3.5/5)
Soundblab (positive)
Stereoboard (3.5/5)
The Arts Desk (positive)
The Electricity Club (positive)
The Guardian, first review (4/5)
The Guardian, second review (3/5)
The Line of Best Fit (7.5/10)
The Skinny (6/10)
The Straits Times (4/5)
Uncut (7/10)
Under the Radar (6.5/10)
XS Noise (positive)
Vada Magazine (positive)
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