Ladytron - Witching Hour
By: Mark Runyon | Category: Album Reviews | 11/23/05 | 12:04 PM
 |  |  Grade: C | Genre: Electro Pop
Summary: At the end of the day, Witching Hour leaves me at a bit of a loss. Does Ladytron want to be known for dreamy atmospheric compositions a la Cocteau Twins, or do they want to spark the incendiary trance beats, burning up the dance floor?
The Liverpool-based Ladytron have returned with their electronic fuzz of futuristic impulse on Witching Hour. Hour marks the bands third LP as they continue to settle into their sound and define why Ladytron's spacey dose of haze should make the fickle listening public perk up and take notice. They seem to have pinned down the niche, adding flavor to synth beats and beautifully stilted vocals. Will it ever propel them into mass stardom, securing their own spotlight? Probably not, but Witching Hour does help the group to evolve, fleshing out new dimensions for additional exploration. |
The band's first single also serves as the album's finest moment, "Everything You Touch." It pulses from the speakers with a nagging urgency of trance beats, coupled with the strong vocal current of Helen Marnie. It has that engaging flashbulb pop and circling hook that you can see blasting out over some exclusive dance club, packed like cattle with sweaty, beautiful people. Is this "Seventeen" all over again? Only the DJs of spin can say for sure. The problem is "Everything" nails you at track two, and there's nothing that follows it that is quite as engaging to the ears.
Now don't take that comment to mean that the rest of the album is bad because it isn't. This is a very decent collection of songs that keep you interested and in the moment without really pulling your attention from this hazy lull. It's a collection that banks on its collective power because its general tone is to have one piece lightly bleed into the next. There's nothing really to skip over or to jump to because playing leapfrog would interrupt the careful flow of Witching Hour. Like could you imagine trying to divvy up the songs of a Lisa Gerrard album? That would be like putting intense focus on the brush strokes of a Picasso. You've got to back up to feel it.
This album can pretty much be halved evenly down the middle. Some tracks follow the pattern of "Soft Power" and "All the Way." The raw energy and power are replaced with an arty atmospheric ambience. The rest, like "Sugar" and its neighbor "Fighting in Built Up Areas," ups the tempo measurably to move us along yet lack that slick hook to take them to the next level.
"Beauty*2" is one of the nice highlights along this journey within the stream of consciousness. It is a slower and more methodic hum that sounds like it should be accompanying some space documentary, sweeping the surface of the moon. As the seconds pass, the song slowly grows in its impatience and lust. It never reaches the tipping point of feverous desire, but the trip is worth the tease along the way.
At the end of the day, Witching Hour leaves me at a bit of a loss. Does Ladytron want to be known for dreamy atmospheric compositions a la Cocteau Twins, or do they want to spark the incendiary trance beats, burning up the dance floor? That crisis of identity seems to permeate this album, which keeps you company while you listen, yet fails to really infuse you with the desire to keep saddling up to the buffet for more.
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