Little Boots : Hands

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/littlebootshands.jpg" alt=" " />Little Boots' electro-cheese can reach electro-awesome. ...
7.0 Atlantic
2010 

Little Boots : Hands

Victoria Christina Hesketh, a.k.a. Little Boots, first got her foot in the music industry door as lead singer for the all-girl three-piece Dead Disco, but while DD were trying to write & record their first album, she found herself more and more writing material that she wanted to keep from her bandmates, because it wasn’t ‘indie’ enough, and too “cheesy”.  So she left that group and struck out on her own as Little Boots – and hit it big.  Last year, there was serious anticipation in her native England, even before Hands came out, and Hesketh has been tapped as one of the new electro-Ladies, somewhere between Ladyhawke (QRO live review, with Little Boots) and Lady Gaga.  Now, nine months after it came out in the U.K., Hands finally gets a proper U.S. release.  Is it electro-cheesy?  Yes.  But Hesketh is also able to kick it across the goal line thanks to sheer enjoyableness.

Little Boots got fame in the U.K. thanks to her singles, and those are clearly the standout tracks of Hands, starting with opener “New In Town”.  Cheesy electro-dance-disco?  Yes, but also really good and infectious, as Hesketh’s personality helps carry it.  Following single “Earthquake” even sees her emotional point bring the song through.  With middle single “Remedy”, dammit if the electro-awesomeness doesn’t totally beat out the cheese.

Note, though, that this is not always the case on Hands.  Indeed, the record can feel a bit like singles & a lot of b-sides, i.e. filler.  The male-female duet grandeur of “Symmetry” doesn’t exceed the cheese, while “Meddle” (an early single) and “Mathematics” are not as over-the-top – in all ways, making them a bit forgettable (though the latter earns bonus points for the Fibonacci reference – 0112358…).  Indeed, the closer and harder one looks at Hands, the more one sees/hears the serious and obvious eighties cheesiness.

Which is why you have to look with your heart, not with your head (a reverse on a chorus line from “Meddle”).  The back third of Hands goes more ‘traditional’ electro-girl, such as the brightness to “Tune Into My Heart” (the following “Hearts Collide” and “No Brakes” could definitely have been better served if they had been further separated on the record).  Unfortunately, ‘closer’ “No Brakes” leads into silence, then a “Brakes” reprise, then a whole separate song – unfortunate because, why not just make it another track and save everyone the hassle of fast-forwarding or altering the track(s) on your iTunes?  Nevertheless, actual closer “Hands” sees Hesketh strip down to vocals and piano – still cheesy, yet surprisingly winning.  And that’s the core of Little Boots’ appeal.

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