TROUBLE In Paradise appears an appropriate title for the second album by La Roux. For despite winning the award for the best electronic/dance album at the Grammy Awards, and scoring a number two UK album with the debut self-titled collection in 2008, the act have had a turbulent time in the past six years.
A combination of panic attacks affecting vocalist Elly Jackson, and musical differences between her and musical partner Ben Langmaid, have seen the duo become a solo act: just Jackson. Some fruits of the former partnership have been saved for this set. Of the five Langmaid-Jackson songs, Let Me Down Gently and Uptight Downtown, are the lead single, Uptight Downtown in particular being a tremendous double-tracked vocal dance track, reminiscent of early Bananarama.
Of the solo songs Tropical Chancer, which features a sample of Grace Jones’s My Jamaican Guy, is a likely contender to become a huge radio hit. This very British album has a warmth and individual character which many will find very endearing.
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