La Roux - Uptight Downtown

Five years is a long time in the pop world. Artists can go from debut to best-of albums, the Next Big Thing can go from craze to it-was-just-a-phase, and boybands can become, well… men.

In many senses, for La Roux, the five years after her debut album have been plagued with problems; at one point her anxiety was so bad, for example, she was unable to physically sing. Yet, when looked at from another perspective, her timing has been perfect. The music world is seeing a revival of lacing pop tunes with disco-funk additives; from record-breaking blockbusters like ‘Get Lucky’, to complete sonic transformations (Arcade Fire). Delay pedals are being dusted-down and stamped on more ferociously than bare feet on Lego, six-string stabs and four-string grooves are being whipped-into fizzy-pop fountains and there are more hooks than Captain Hook can shake a hooked hand at.

Of course, there have been changes for La Roux since 2009. Producer Ben Langmaid has gone, as has the quiff; being replaced with a flopped-down counterpart of equally cool fringality. But the infectious disco sound is still there, and perfectly fitting of the musical zeitgeist. Even lyrically, ‘Uptight Downtown’ captures the nowness of urban faux-busyness over reverberating guitar hooks and a properly shades-on/collar-up bassline. Fortunately, everything is as tight and fresh as it was five years ago; ending in quintessential style with a damn-funky outro that’ll get Mums still listening to a potent mixture of 70s Disco and James Blunt dropping social-bombshells (‘Groovy!’) and Dads doing the funky chicken. Sure, perhaps for some, five years is a full pop career; but in the case of La Roux, it’s allowed her to cement her supreme pop status; and is nothing short of time well spent.