Whilst her peers of the mid-late 00s indie-pop scene have either disintegrated into mere nothingness – Friendly Fires, The Big Pink and The Ting Tings (that band that once did that song about getting somebody’s name wrong) – or they have just become so horrendously irrelevant, you probably don’t realise they are still around – Klaxons, Little Boots etc. Very few have actually made it through to the sunny fields of longevity, in fact, you could probably count them on one hand, erm – Hot Chip? It’s interesting then, how eight years on from her initial success, Ladyhawke, or Pip Brown as she is otherwise known, is back in action with her third album, Wild Things. Nobody really saw it coming but when it emerged in early March that Pip was to be making her comeback with a full UK tour and album release at the start of June, the indie children of yesterday put down their back issues of NME, put on their spray on red jeans and clued into the MTV2 Rocks show to see what would happen.

Ladyhawke’s first album, released back in 2008, achieved her phenomenal success with its loveable synth-pop affair, it blended indie, pop and electronica and made it an incredibly fun affair. The New Zealand starlet joined the ranks occupied by the likes of Klaxons, Late of The Pier, Hadouken and CSS and departed upon the tightrope across the indie landfill, desperate not to fall into the baying pit of atrocity that lay below. Much to her credit, the self-titled debut was fantastic. ‘My Delirium’, ‘Paris Is Burning’ and ‘Dusk Till Dawn’ were stand out singles not just for the scene but for that year in every 15-year-olds-heart. Her sophomore effort, Anxiety, arrived too late for the scene and vanished, practically unknown to the world. This all paved the way for the surprise return earlier this year, after four years of absence, it was a shock.

Does Wild Things push her sound forward? Is it going to be relevant? Well, having already released four of the eleven songs on the album, everybody has a pretty solid understanding of where the album is heading already. Opener to the album, ‘Love Song’ pulls harder on the pop-electronic hooks than Ladyhawke has ever dared do before. Guitars appear all but absent here, the single instead manoeuvres carefully around throbbing electronica and it is actually okay. It is a good single, but that is all it is. It does not offer anything new away from your most obvious female fronted pop song, whether this is pressure on Ladyhawke to fulfil a record deal and pull together a commercial sound or whether this is a conscious effort to try and make something new on her behalf, it remains uncertain. It is a step away from her old sound, to an extent, but it is as if she has made some magnetised move to the most obvious bench of pop music in some frantic panic.

Nevertheless, as the album progresses, it becomes slightly clear where Ladyhawke is trying to move, this is a celebratory album – okay, this is nothing new either, but, it does what it says on the tin relatively well in parts. ‘Chills’ does not vary the theme or sound from the first song on the album but pushes it into a slightly different song structure. Lyrically, it brings about that joyous idea regardless of the fact it falls upon exceptionally clichéd notions: “This is love, this is love, this everything!” If you wanted a sense of soul and sincerity to the album, I advise you look elsewhere, but perhaps that is the target market here? Maybe Pip never wanted to make serious music and instead, she has opted to continue driving towards the young teenage market? There’s being market driven though, but then there is also being mid-30s still pretending you are the carefree young 20-something and looking in the mirror realising you are the embarrassing mum at a school disco.

Retro characteristics coat the album from start to finish, highlights of the album such as ‘Sweet Fascination’ celebrate it with its New Order sounding synth pattern, it has a slightly darker undercurrent that Pip Brown really toys with. Her joyous characteristics contrast it somewhat, giving it a double edged appearance. Similarly, ‘Wild Things’ pursues this avenue further adding as a great addition despite its slightly more sombre tone. It is when Brown plays with these tones and appearances, forgetting that the world is such a happy place that her music comes across a little more sincere and less like a Disney animation soundtrack. Lyrically, the album attempts to tick off every banality that humankind witnesses, it just struggles to explain them in a new fashion: “We dance together like the wild things in the night” – it’s not that young and free simile again, is it?! ‘Wonderland’ too, strips back the lyrics and it is arguably as good as the album gets in regards pop hooks, it’s an 80s groove throughout and something that The Human League, Frankie Goes To Hollywood or Simple Minds would be proud of.

However, it is where the retro mould begins to become a little too plasticised that the album really begins to slam your hand against your forehead. ‘Golden Girl’ could easily be the soundtrack to the current equivalent to Sabrina the Teenage Witch or The Lizzy Maguire show. As lyrics discuss being ditched by some young chap in her life in the most mundane fashion possible:

“There’s no way up, there’s no way down
You stole my heart, but you throw it around
You give it up then you give it away
Your golden girl waits another day”

Furthermore, there seems to be some obscure obsession with money that Pip touches on, whether this is on ‘Let It Roll’: “I’m on the flip side / Of every dollar bill”, ‘The River’: “Swimming in oceans and laughing like millionaires" or in the self explanatory, ‘Money To Burn’. This gives an artist’s impression perhaps of where Ladyhawke is beginning to angle her music.

On the whole, the press release announcing the release of the third album suggested this album was the ‘cathartic’ return for Ladyhawke. In retrospect, this feels a little misguiding. In fact, the catharsis in this album feels more as if it is the lamenting comments from a 15-year-old after her first secondary school break-up. For what the album shows on the whole, there are some relatively good pop hooks, nothing that will necessarily set the world alight, however credit where credit is due, they are okay if nothing more than exceptionally clichéd. The album shows polish on songs such as ‘Sweet Fascination’ where it doesn’t feel too tacky or obnoxious, but where it shines, it lets sincerity through. Maybe, just maybe, this will be something that will come to light on her upcoming UK tour. As one of the sole surviving members of the mid-late 00s indie-pop sound, to her honour she has stuck around, but Wild Things as an album gives few reasons why she should continue.
Tom Churchill

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