Album Review: Little Boots - 'Hands'

Something’s not quite right about the Little Boots marketing campaign. Named the winner of the BBC Sound of 2009 poll at the beginning of the year, Boots – real name Victoria Hesketh – became one of the most hotly tipped artists in the industry. Instead of using this blaze of publicity as a launch pad, she has instead remained dormant, putting the finishing touches on her debut album whilst not-that-dissimilar newcomers like Lady Gaga and La Roux have fired to the top of the charts in her place. Now all of a sudden the charts are packed with artists aboard the electro-pop bandwagon and poor Hesketh has a lot of work to do to show what all the fuss was about. To top it all off, the fierce critical acclaim has put her in real danger of becoming inaccessible and over-hyped. It’s a shame really, because 'Hands', the debut album in question, is easily one of the best albums you’ll hear this year.

Its simplicity is what makes it so brilliant. Hesketh never tries too hard to be clever, she just is. And what really shines through, fluffy as it sounds, is her endearing belief in love. The overwhelming majority of the songs are about relationships, and each one is a lot more accessible than you might think. Across the duration of the album she finds herself falling in love beyond her control ('No Brakes'), suffers a bit of unrequited love ('Ghost'), and realises the perfect relationship isn’t so perfect after all ('Click'). 'Tune Into My Heart', a track about long-distance relationships, is one of the most adorable songs in recent memory.

Lead single 'New In Town' is a perfect demonstration of Hesketh’s ability to pen a good chorus; and there are so many more of them scattered about the album. Radio-friendly 'Remedy', set to be released as the next single, is equally irresistible, and the euphoric 'Earthquake' holds the potential to get pop’s harshest critics on the dancefloor.

Hesketh doesn’t voice her heartbreak through Kelly Clarkson style yells or Leona Lewis’ inter-octave leaps; in fact her voice is really quite gentle. It isn’t overly powerful or quirky, but her soft vocals are a perfect match. These are songs that Clarkson and Lewis would probably sound ridiculous on. The critically acclaimed 'Stuck On Repeat', released as a promotional buzz single late last year, sets her haunting vocals against a fierce synth-heavy backing to create one of the most original pop songs since Girls Aloud started arranging verses and choruses in bizarre orders.

Since debuting inside the top 5 and swiftly free-falling to the bottom end of the charts, 'Hands' has slowly gathered some more upward momentum; an encouraging sign that the genius of Little Boots is beginning to make itself known. With several festival dates lined up and a brilliant new single in the pipeline for the next few weeks, hopefully the long-term career of Project Boots will look a bit more secure in the near future.

5/5