If this is "trouble in paradise," then someone needs to make Elly Jackson's paradise even worse. If a little trouble gives us an album this great, then we should see how much more La Roux has to offer.
La Roux's breakup album - the breakup between lead singer Elly Jackson and producer Ben Langmaid - strolls through the avenues of troubled bliss. Jackson doesn't sound as convicted as Hayley Williams did on Paramore's parallel breakup album last year, but Jackson manages to twist her and Langmaid's relationship into several perspectives. Elly gets on her knees for the slow burner Let Me Down Gently, while taking jabs in the seven-minute epic Silent Partner.
The album's nine tracks all of single potential, but only two have even the slightest hit potential: the guitar driven first single Uptight Downtown, and the giddy Kiss and Not Tell. The latter is the closest Jackson gets back to La Roux's electro-gem Bulletproof, with an irresistible synth riff.
At 9 tracks and 5 years of work, Jackson definitely didn't rush the album, or put her apples in to too many baskets, and it certainly payed off. The 9 tracks all work well to create a very cohesive album. Closing track The Feeling may be the only undeserved track, and it's still comfortably wrapped into the albums story.
While we all hope not to have to wait half a decade for new music from the new solo act, it's comforting to know that if she is taking her time, it is completely worth it.
Rating: 9.1/10