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New Zealand multi-instrumentalist Pip Brown a/k/a Ladyhawke presents us with a treasure trove of found blips, as if the 1980s had been nothing but a gigantic mirror ball to smash and paste back together.
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FilterBrown has an unlikely knack for putting quality into cliched, classic disco and rock. [Holiday 2008, p.106]
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We'll settle for saying it's a great record. Full stop.
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Ladyhawke’s louche synthetic pop is brazenly Bananarama, ridiculously ‘Rio’, and wonderfully Waterman, but the lack of posing – her sheer scruffiness – makes it the first credible ’80s pop record since ABC’s ‘The Lexicon Of Love’
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Ladyhawke is an accessible but immensely rewarding listen, and while some of this singer's influences may be middle of the road, her album isn't even on the road.
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Smarts to her, too, for making her pop sound so good that it never sounds like pastiche.
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Ladyhawke is unlikely to win any awards for originality but you'd be hard pressed to find a more consistent and hook-laden debut all year.
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Plundering the 1980s for inspiration (shock!), 27-year- old New Zealander Pip Brown emerges with a confection of synth-infused, mammoth-chorused tunes that sound surprisingly and thrillingly fresh.
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We can quibble about intent and expression, but in the end you will have to succumb to the heart, body and soul, and your brain might be left behind.
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Her eponymous debut is the closest thing to “Betty Davis Eyes” or “Stand Back” recorded for our generation, and yet it isn’t nauseatingly retro.
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Substantive lyrics aren’t part of Pip Brown’s forte but, then again, they’re totally unnecessary in the genre to which she peddles.
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Ladyhawke is brimming with ideas whose worst moments quantify this past and whose best build upon it.
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Q MagazineOne nostalgia trip worth taking. [Oct 2008, p.147]
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UncutIt's all craftily entertaining, but loopy lead single 'Paris Is Burning' is the one track that escapes pastiche. [Oct 2008, p.94]
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As with so much Eighties revivalism, there is a chilly emptiness to the exercise; most of the songs feel like fashion statements.
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Under The RadarRotating guest producers help enhance her arrangements, and when she nails one, you'll revisit it. Other tracks, though, have a tiresome, hook-by-committee vibe that's entirely disposable. [Winter 2009, p.78]
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People will tell you Ladyhawke is fresh and exciting. They're wrong. It's horrendous.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 27 out of 30
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Mixed: 1 out of 30
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Negative: 2 out of 30
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Nov 20, 2019Good! I Love This Album! Thanks Ladyhawke! Love from Russia! I'm cant. Crying so much
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Sep 13, 2010Phillipa â