I’m not much of a “dance music” guy. Give me a nice, epic, guitar-based jam that I can move around a bit to and I’m satisfied. But sometimes you just need a throbbing electro baseline and some catchy female vocals hooks to kick start your day (or evening, as the case may be). English chanteuse & DJ Victoria Hesketh, who performs under the moniker Little Boots, fits the bill quite nicely, injecting a dose of pop smarts into the house and disco beats found throughout her sophomore album release, Nocturnes.
Having worked with such producing luminaries as Greg Kurstin (The Bird & the Bee, Lily Allen) and Joe Goddard (Hot Chip) in the past, she certainly knows how to pick her collaborators. This time around she gets support from DFA mastermind Tim Goldsworthy, Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford and Hercules & Love Affair’s Andy Butler, who add extra sparkle to her dancefloor-ready tunes, such as on 90s club paean, “Every Night I Say a Prayer” or the classic 70s disco homage, “Beat Beat.”
With a style reminiscent of Robyn, Annie, Saint Etienne’s Sarah Cracknell or even Lady Gaga (minus the high-concept visual shtick), Little Boots doesn’t allow the percolating electronic drumbeats or synth washes to lose the sense of the pop song at the heart of her music. It doesn’t seem like such a complicate trick, but DJ crates across the globe are full of ephemeral dance tracks that seemingly miss the boat. Somehow Little Boots manages to make this 43-year-old post-punk aficionado want her to drag me to the center of the club, right underneath the giant rotating disco ball, and dance our cares away.
- Eric J. Lawrence
Track List:
01. Motorway
02. Confusion
03. Broken Record
04. Shake
05. Beat Beat
06. Every Night I Say a Prayer
07. Crescendo
08. Strangers
09. All for You
10. Satellite
Banner Photo by Mari Sarai