Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A lot better than you think it will be..., 6 Feb 2009
My initial impressions of Ladyhawke was a manufactured bandwagon jumper, with a few hit singles propping up an album of dodgy 80's influenced pop songs. Whereas this is an album firmly influenced by 80's synth pop, it certainly isn't dodgy.
This album has probably surprised me a lot more than any other I bought in 2008. A friend recommended I buy it after I told him that I enjoyed Robyn's album and that I wasn't offended by pop music. How right he was!
The weaker songs on this album are mainly noticeable due to the sheer hook-laden quality of the others. Manipulating Woman, My Delirium, Back of the Van and Crazy World, alongside the singles Paris is Burning and Disk Till Dawn are brilliantly catchy electro pop songs. Ladyhawke's voice is not the most distinctive, however it works well through the album's perfect melodies and on top of excellent production by a number of different producers.
It's not often that something this good comes out of New Zealand that you can't eat, so I implore you to give it a listen. If you're enjoying the 80's revival and fondly remember Madonna (before she got veiny), Robin Beck, Stevie Nicks, Cyndi Lauper, etc. then you'll like this even more.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great music - and she's great too, 11 Mar 2009
We banged on Ladyhawke's - Pip Brown's - van window after her gig at Kerrang! radio Birmingham. She opened the door, chatted about New Zealand, her musical influences, and what it was like playing with an acoustic band (which she'd just done) compared to the album and to her electric band. What an amazingly nice lady! It must be the New Zealand background.
Anyway, this is an album that keeps suggesting a particular '80s influence to you at the beginning of a track, and then going off somewhere completely different. Crazy World, for example, always makes me think Cyndi Lauper is about to kick in, but only for a moment, while Professional Suicide makes me think straight away of Soft Cell. Once you get into the songs, though, more than anything, it reminds me of Suzanne Vega's 99.9 F° industrial album, especially on Paris is Burning. Ladyhawke brings a particular intensity to the music by playing all the instruments herself.
What's especially interesting to me is that although the tracks on this album sound very much like the synth-pop of the 80s, especially Morning Dreams and Better Than Sunday, the influences she told me about at the van were all rock: David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, ELO, among others. Live, with an acoustic band, you can really hear that. "You should do an album with that band" I said. "Yeah", she replied, "maybe I should." I hope she does. She strikes me as someone who will really blossom in the creative tension of a recording band, which will take her away from the occasionally over-rhythmic drum-machine sound.
Anyway, this is a superb album, and one that's worth owning just to be able to say 'I was there at the beginning'. Ladyhawke is certain to go on to bigger and better things. Don't get me wrong -- this one is good. But the next one is going to explode with more.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Synthetic Dreams, 4 May 2009
Better late than never I suppose.
Ms Brown's eponymous debut is an album that I stumbled upon more by
accident than design and am consequently very glad to have done so.
Much has already been made of her
influences in these pages and elsewhere.
I have nothing to add or subtract.
Frankly with pop music this good it is an irrelevance.
This collection of 13 fine songs has enough catchy
hooks to see us through at least three summers.
Top down music for the open road.
Ms Brown's voice is not the most subtle of instruments but,
making the most of her strengths (ie : a fine pair of lungs),
it adorns the material more than adequately.
"Magic" kicks off proceedings with a vibrant synth-led arrangement.
A strong, anthemic, opening statement pointing to what lays ahead.
"My Delirium" is a real stormer with a chorus to die for.
"Back Of The Van" another ecstatic pop gem.
"Professional Suicide" displays a slightly darker sound palette.
The dense and elusive chord progressions are very canny.
"Dusk Till Dawn" and "Oh My" are together the album's highpoints.
Two completely satisfying slices of uplifting melodic mayhem.
"Morning Dreams" concludes the project in a quaintly old-fashioned way.
New Zealand can be justly proud of her talented daughter.
Recommended.
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