[rating=9.00]
Instead of following the typical path of a zeitgeisty pop star with a well-received first record, Elly Jackson has been taking her time with a follow-up. While her fellow nominees in the BBC’s Sound of 2009 poll — Florence and the Machine, Little Boots, Kid Cudi, Passion Pit, and a little-known art pop chanteuse named Lady Gaga — have embarked on numerous tours and released sophomore records (and more), Jackson’s synth-pop duo, La Roux — at that time, a collaboration with producer Ben Langmaid — has largely stayed out of the spotlight after the dust from their eponymous debut settled.
However, frustrated fans eager for more of Jackson’s signature vocals and sexually-charged electro bangers will be pleased to know that the red-haired singer-songwriter is back with a new record — Trouble in Paradise, out July 7th — and a teaser track, “Let Me Down Gently.”
In the five years since Jackson’s debut, La Roux, she’s clearly gone through a bit of a transition. Not only has the singer been slowly crafting and arranging new songs during her long break, but original co-writer and production partner Langmaid has been traded out for Ian Sherwin, an engineer on the first record. “Let Me Down Gently” shows evidence of those behind-the-scenes shifts — in a good way.
La Roux’s style of pop on the first record was aggressive, percussive: singles “In for the Kill”, “Quicksand”, and “Bulletproof” all announce themselves immediately with in-your-face beats and Jackson’s inimitable vocal swagger, high-pitched but attitudinal, a pixie pugilist. “Let Me Down Gently,” however, trades straight-for-the-jugular 808s with a slow burn of wistful synths. Jackson pleads with a lover to, well, let her down gently — but from the perspective that though this may be exactly what she needs, it’s not at all what she wants.
The song works through its first verse and chorus before any percussion kicks in, but it draws in listeners regardless. Jackson’s higher vocal end was very much in evidence on the debut record, but here she makes growling, emotionally-conflicted use of her evocative lower register. Among the song’s other charms are a post-chorus break where everything drops out. The silence lingers one moment past the expected beat before the song stutters to life again, rhythm section intensified.
Great pop music is about subverting expectation and surprising listeners, not through tricks or gimmicks but through shifts and experimentation in the songwriting and arrangements, which — if done effectively — both serve a song’s overall tone and offer fresh (or at least novel) melodic ideas. Elly Jackson proved that she is capable of such on her debut, and though “Let Me Down Gently” is technically more sedate than the lead singles from La Roux, which may dismay fans of her club stompers, it proves that the singer and her collaborators have much more to say than they already have.
