Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke (CD 2008)

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Ladyhawke is the alter ego of Phillipa “Pip” Brown, born in New Zealand in the midst of the eighties and schooled on the stylised gloss and tint of it’s mainstream rock and pop output by her mother and stepfather, himself a former musician. A self confessed introvert for whom performance is a nightmare, Brown invented Ladyhawke by necessity as an unreconstructed Mizz Hyde, all shoulder pads and stilettos, a cross between Sharon Stone and Stevie Nicks. This evil twin plays the sort of music which the jiving crowd in The Terminator’s Tech Noir nightclub sipped their pina coladas to, synths interweaving above a suitably automaton rhythm section that’s almost an afterthought and with vocals floating insouciantly in a haze of neon and white powder.
Your opinion on her debut album will largely be dictated on your memories of the era; trailed by the single "Paris is Burning" with it’s robot tooled, Numan-esque verses and a huge, resistance pulverizing chorus lifted from middling brit-trio Bananarama, it’s an exercise that has absolutely no shame and in terms of glitzy execution has few recent peers either. Along with its 12 sidekicks, the collective constitutes quite simply the kind of thing Katy Perry would trade in her corsets for and by extension ultimately proves to be the best mainstream pop record of 2008.

Close your eyes and the whole thing sounds like a seamless hour of power courtesy of VH-1. Opener "Magic" clunks boxily like Roxette in a Cote D’azur nightclub, Brown coaxing a long distance lover to relocate pronto with the line “One life here with me and it’s magic” as a thousand U-Hauls warm up in the background. It may be populist, but it's far from brainless. The titular anti-heroine of "Manipulating Woman" could quite easily be a metaphor for Ladyhawke herself. Battling the dichotomous forces of high concept Hollywood, Brown sings back at the icy maneater in the mirror backed by a jagged, choppy rock-lite backing which recalls Pat Benatar and a thousand soft focus close ups.
So far, so nostalgic. But it’s on "My Delirium" that the elfin singer nails it, heading for the dancefloor and deploying a cheerleader chant-hook so big you'll need a Camaro to escape and sending those of a certain age into shambling diatribes about how The Go-Go's descent into drug fuelled anarchy was the greatest loss to rock and roll since Lennon died.
Of course the ensemble wouldn’t be complete without a paean to mid-era Fleetwood Mac, but "Love Don’t Live Here" succeeds where many others have failed. Whether truly authentic or not, Brown captures the real secret gift within Tango In The Night's genius; the pristinely crisp quality of Lindsay Buckingham's songwriting. "Back In The Van" sounds like a Cyndi Lauper song, but Brown chooses rightly to ignore her grating, toddler esque tone. And yet even more, there are hits everywhere, littered like shells on a beach. "Dusk 'Til Dawn" again deploys Bananarama harmonies and should probably carry a sanity warning, snaking into the listener's brain until it there's only an empty cranium left. The shimmering "Crazyworld" is the sort of thing Pink discarded for the underwhelming angst of street cred long ago.

Nostalgia certainly isn't how I remember it..

Fantastic album featuring Dusk til Dawn, Paris is Burning, and My Delirium. Brilliant pop harking back to the 80's!

Great CD, she is so much better than lady ga ga and she is really giving lilly allen a run for her money too, so watch out!!! a born again kim Wilde!
Very up lifting songs and excellent synth and lyrics.

excellent group, diverse, different, a+++++++++++++++++ I would recommend this album to everyone who likes catchy grunge/pop with a bit of 80's thrown in.

As soon as you press play on Ladyhawke's debut album
you enter a new world where future meets past, for the next 60+ minutes you discover
catchy, uplifting tracks such as 'My Delirium','Dusk Til Dawn' & 'Paris is Burning'. The album is full of fresh sounds, you hear exciting Electro tints within the indie pop which somewhat reminds you of those 80's ballads, this album will definitely touch hearts of many, Also an album which keeps you drawn even after 8+ songs which many artists find hard to do, Pip is definitely a talented lady who's a self taught musician hailing all the way from Newzealand. A year from now, Ladyhawke will be Everywhere.

For fans of: Ladytron,peaches,css,bananarama

New antipodean angel of 80's cool rocks your world effortlessly! Put it on in your 80's sports car and die of pleasure

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