Salient

Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke

By Ashleigh Barrowman | 6 Oct, 2008

The greatly anticipated release of Ladyhawke’s first, self-titled album does not disappoint. Although predictable and repetitive it’s all deliberate. Pip admits she wanted her music to give off a sense of nostalgia even when listening for the first time, and the album has certainly achieved this. Heavily influenced by the 70’s and 80’s, the happy dance beats are combined with somewhat melancholy lyrics to emit handclaps and sing-a-long choruses which become embedded in your brain long after the music has died. This is where my fear for her music career has sprung from, although the album is good, it lacks diversity. Even more so than that, it’s too catchy. Don’t get me wrong here (I’m the ‘sickly sweet’ avid fan who raved about her gig a few weeks back), she’s fantastic but I question her staying power. She is becoming a rapid fad as the press prints so much hype around her; which is unfortunately bound to get very old very quick. I can see her songs being added to a cover band’s play list 10 to 20 years from now alongside ‘Summer of 69’ and ‘April Sun in Cuba’- great songs way back when, but I cringe every time I hear them now.

The opener ‘Magic’ gives a great impression but ending with ‘Morning Dreams’ not so much - it’s a little too slow for my liking. ‘Crazy World’ echoes Hillary Duff on the Disney Channel, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, just not my thing. ‘Dusk til Dawn’ is a fantastic song, perfect to dance and jump around to and just as fun as ‘Professional Suicide’, another favourite. ‘Love Don’t Live Here Anymore’ is smooth and sensual with delicate vocals. I get taken back to ‘Video killed the Radio Star’ and my fond memories of playing Grand Theft Auto- Vice City with her song ‘Another Runaway’, which will most probably follow in the footsteps of ‘Paris is Burning’, as will ‘My Delirium’- my absolute favourite of the bunch.

Maybe I’m an extremist; I either hate it or love it just like The Game. It’s a mixed bag of diamonds in the rough. I’ve probably listened to it so much over the weekend that I’m starting to backlash my initial love for her. Nevertheless I still stand by ‘she blatantly rocks’.