Little Boots, Leeds Cockpit

Sitting listening to Little Boots on Hype Machine, it’s easy to wonder how the hell her brand of mainstream-bothering-to-be-pop will work on the toilet circuit. In recent times we’ve seen bubblegum darlings like Annie be both amazing and spectacularly able to snatch defeat from the jaws of certain victory, and you’d hardly expect to see Kylie bothering with the Cockpit.

Mind you, Kylie doesn’t have a Tenori-On. It’s hard to think of an artist making an instrument their own in quite such a way, but Miss Hesketh and the satisfyingly visual bit of kit go together like jam and bread. That and a whole raft of other suitably ace audio toys (stylophone and keytar both make an appearance) mean Little Boots has an edge that renders all fears utterly invalid.

Things certainly seem to be going well for the artist formerly of Dead Disco; so much so that even mentioning her former band seems rather pointless. This is the final night of the Automatic Lovers Tour, and Leeds is out in force. When that happens for an act so hyped it usually results in a bunch of haircuts quizzically staring at a stage, so while her ties to the city obviously help matters, it’s a show of just how emphatically ace Little Boots is that by half way through West Yorkshire is actually dancing.

Shock and awe aside, for an artist amongst 2009’s most easily tipped Little Boots is refreshingly good. Think back to last years lists - from the laughably release-shy Joe Lean to cats eyes friendly Duffy - it’s hard to think of anyone who’s both broken through and had any consistent quality with it. ‘Meddle’, on the other hand, is a hit that graces 200 people as much as you know it’ll work on 5,000. Bewitched by the flashing lights of that Tenori-On, there’s no doubt what so ever this is an artist on the fast track to Radio 1’s A list.

Between the aforementioned blog-munching super track and the equally contagious ‘Stuck On Repeat’ you’ve got two ‘in the bag’ modern classics off the bat. When performed with such polish, yet all the time feeling entirely organic - that is special. There’s no feeling that we’re listening to songs written by committee and phoned in for a sizable cheque; Victoria Hesketh is front, center and integral to absolutely everything Little Boots. UK pop music has a new saviour in waiting, and it’s about time too.