Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke - Modular
Perhaps the best thing that can be said about Ladyhawke’s eponymous debut LP is that it’s impossible to describe her sound without naming some of the most iconic acts of the 80’s. But the path Kiwi Pip Brown takes is broadly shiny and inoffensive, borrowing the likes of Stevie Nicks and Cindi Lauper merely for temporal comparisons that don’t quite stick to the un-80’s safety of this disc. Brown manages to hit all the pertinent pieces from the decade, but the disparity in niche from new wave to power pop fails to serve as a synergizing force. Often the effect manifests in uninspiring pastiche akin to a Time-Life anthology—a cynic might say the only thing 2008 about Ladyhawke is that it’s recycled.
In all honesty the resentment exists in part because it’s obvious that Ladyhawke could be really fucking cool. There’s “Love Don’t Live Here” a Nicks-esque send-off where Brown starts to show some chops. Her delivery is a little monotone, and a little under-stated but obviously well-rehearsed. Unfortunately, the same can be said of the overall production, and instead of bolstering Pip’s pipes the construction really just amounts to stagnant pop.
The lyrical content of nearly every song sounds like they were written in or for a club ("Better Than Sunday", "Another Runaway", "Dusk Til Dawn"), but confusingly the album experience seems more appropriate on headphones. With one foot in and the other out, Ladyhawke can’t quite get away, for instance, with ripping a Gary Numan riff on the wet-blanket first single “Paris Is Burning.” The single is emblematic of the albums’ larger flaws: not even Nero was less ambivalent about a city en’flamme. Label-mates Cut Copy took an EP hack at “Paris Is Burning,” and the energy jives closer to a song with all-night-long lyrics like “Give me your glass, its your last, you're too wasted. Or get me one too, 'cause I'm due any tasting.” My guess: Cut Copy tries on “Dusk To Dawn” and turns it into a coke-den/cat-walk strutter that helps Ladyhawke realize that it’s okay for her to freak out a little bit.
But Brown shows some promise for next time with the closing number “Morning Dreams.” The floating finale crests on the strength of synths that subside and give way to a satisfying guitar kick. It’s a power ballad that could fill either a room or an arena, and points to the space Ladyhawke could fill with some youthful risk and mature attention to arrangement.
