Another highly anticipated record of the year from one of my favorite bands came out last week. And though I have a perfectly crafted press release regarding Gravity The Seducer’s release and Ladytron’s supporting tour of it, I just couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t live with this record for a week and share a few opinions.
“White Elephant,” the track with the beautifully strange, accompanying video that was released a couple of months ago, opens the record. It’s full of happy melody, organs and reverbed vocals that mesh together to create something grandiosely dark and mysterious. It’s a mental freakshow that feels like guilty comfort.
“Mirage” brings some new wave drums and synth into the mix, but lets the odd atmosphere stay and loom. “White Gold” brings some stripped down 808 sounding beats and old school uses of the expression wheel. The vocals carry on with that uncontrolled, analog reverb, getting ghostly like Nika Roza’s always do. The lyrics are more dynamic this time around, and the music is totally cinematic. I imagine David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriquez fighting over it for the next big screen ‘thrill me / kill me’ theme song.
“Ace of Hz” and “Ritual” (one of three instrumentals on the record) nod to the likes of Goldfrapp, musically, or something mod and beat heavy like Com Truise on the low end, but with some sincere 80s pop arpeggiation that only Ladytron could pull off. And, speaking of instrumentals, these bring up visions of what Across the Universe could’ve been – on some astral level, you know, if they’d not filled every moment of empty space with all that Beatles stuff. “Moon Palace” goes to a dark place again (the “White Elephant” remembered, if you will), which carries a mood that’s overall emotional yet ambivalent. Like the beginning of the journey, though, “Moon Palace” brings lots of airy vocals that traverse the background for the duration of the song.
The tune “Ambulances” might be my favorite. It makes me think of The Knife or Bat for Lashes. The beat’s consistent and dancey, but slightly odd and of a perfect digital/organic blend. The vocals are estranged from Ladytron’s typical – they’re whiny and warm. Are these the same musical robots that I’ve loved all these years? Then, directly following that one, “Melting Ice” reminds me of “He Took Her to a Movie.” It’s a trademark Ladytron storytale type.
So, Gravity The Seducer is definitely different than all previous Ladytron records. It’s a great first peek at the band for shoegaze and soundscape fans who want some pro digital/analog mixy stuff (listen to “90 Degrees” first), and I think they’ll make new fans with it in that regard. Some of my contemporaries have expressed dislike or, at least, that it’s ‘not as good’ as early Ladytron. I beg to differ. Gravity The Seducer is the foursome’s promise kept – it’s fine progression and evolution, if in a leap rather than a step. In the end, it sounds like Ladytron always does – it sounds like Ladytron. These people are, essentially, forerunners of experimental digital music for our generation. I think I’d be rather disgruntled and depressed if they didn’t use a new record as an excuse to experiment. You might not play it from cover to cover at your 2001 art party like you did 604, but this one’s ready for a different kind of party.
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