La Roux

Arriving at a time when every other female singer is an '80s influenced electro-pop starlet, La Roux stole a march on the competition with single In For The Kill, which sold by the bucket-load back in March. New single Bulletproof is expected to do the same.

 

Their unique combination of classic, perky synth pop and howling, lovelorn vocals has captured the public imagination and dominated the airwaves. Now the duo of Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid (he doesn't do interviews or photos) are releasing their self-titled debut album. We reckon it's a strong contender for record of the year.

 

We spoke to Elly about people's peculiar music taste, badly dressed bands and saying no to record companies. And no, we didn't ask her anything about her mum being in The Bill.

 

In For The Kill went to number two in the UK charts. Were you surprised by that or did you actually think it deserved to be Number One?

"It took us by surprise. But I don't think there is any artist making any kind of commercial music who doesn't want a Number One. Although I think, when you look back over history, things that get to Number One are often the less good things in the chart."

 

It does present a distorted view of the nation's musical taste.

"It's very odd. For instance, the other day there was Every Number One of the Century on TV, and it was basically a day of bad music! I always use the classic example of when Ultravox didn't make it to Number One with Vienna and Joe Dolce's Shaddupayaface did. What can you do?!"

 

Is it a problem for you that there'll be people who buy your album who have terrible musical taste?

"It's weird. Obviously sometimes you have people who come up to you after gigs and you're like, 'You're just mad, get away from me!' But if it works, it works. If it only related to people that were like me there would be like five album sales!"

 

Do you think there's anyone who won't love your album?

"Of course there is, there always will be. Although I find it completely insane there's some people that don't like Prince, which is just mad."

 

Certifiable. The visual side of La Roux is very striking. Do you believe bands should spend as much time thinking about the way they look as the way they sound?

"Not all bands. With some you can see that the music's not very good so they're having to cover it up with styling them in a certain way: [cough] The Hoosiers! Obviously certain bands like The Maccabees, and more rootsy indie bands, they shouldn't dress up, it would look weird. But with Prince or David Bowie, the music wouldn't be any less without them dressing up, but it just enhances what they do. But it's not like we spend days and days thinking about things like that; I like doing it. I think if you don't like doing it, if it's a chore then don't bother."

 

Your voice is quite unlike any singer we can think of. Who do you think you sound like?

"If I was going to pick out a vocal influence that I thought you might actually be able to hear it would probably be Joni Mitchell, more than anything else. But someone on YouTube said: 'Is it me or does this all sound like a Kim Wilde b-side?'"

 

We'd take that as a compliment. You also sound fairly miserable and heartfelt in your songs. Is that how you really feel or are you just a good actor?

"I'm not that good an actor, f*** that! No, all these songs are true. I think it would be harder for me to sing them if they weren't true. I can't really sing about anything I don't really feel. I'd find it very difficult to sing it with any passion or emotion."

 

That's going to cause a few problems for your second album – you'll be a successful pop star with no heartbreak or woe to sing about.

"Yeah, we're not actually making a second album. Who says you have to make more than one album anyway?! It's my life's work right there."

 

The Manic Street Preachers always said they'd do one album and then split up…

"I f***ing wish they had! Ha ha!"

 

You're going to be a nightmare for your record company, aren't you?

"I'm already trouble because I say no to everything! I'm like, 'no, no, no, I'm not doing that!' All the crap things that everyone else does that no one says no to."

 

Like promotional Bulletproof vests?

"Oh my god no, nothing like that… I do feel like I work with the best record label in the country, in the world in fact. I think Polydor are a brilliant label and they are the least likely to pressure me to do anything that I don't want to do. It's just the way they present things to you like they're the coolest things to do, like Twitter or something: 'Everyone's doing it. It's about online presence.' And I'm not doing that; it's overkill."

 

We feel we should apologise for increasing your online presence!

"It's fine."

 

Are you sure? If we weren't here to interview you would we have still had a nice chat or would you have ignored us?

"We would have had a nice chat anyway. I'm not that much of a c***!"

 

We can testify to that.

La Roux by La Roux is out now.