Ladyhawke - anxiety (Island)

Ladyhawke's second album after a 4 year gap and times have moved on. Ladyhawke has moved her sound away from a retro synth laden pastiche of great late 80s pop on her great debut to something altogether harder and rockier and more refined in direction. Whereas her first album was a little patchy "Anxiety" is pretty full on straight off the bat with the driving pop-rock of "Girl like me".

Highlights are a-plenty and include the blistering power-pop of "blue eyes" and the power of "black, white and blue". At times maybe it feels like Ladyhawke has moved on from the 80s to 90s Brit Pop though there are also 80s and psychedelia influences in the mix. There are also plenty of amazing pop hooks in that mix.

I can't deny i do miss the "old Ladyhawke sound" a bit but she was probably right to move on. The 80s can be a great decade to dip into but its very easy to become entrapped by the cliches. Overall verdict then, brilliant. Its in the running for one of the albums of the year.