As barometers of future success go, the BBC ‘Sound Of ’ poll has a near peerless record. Current picks Years And Years have scored several UK top ten singles hits, while immediate predecessor Sam Smith effortlessly conquered the United States.
The only true question mark on the ‘Sound Of ’ crib-sheet is Little Boots, aka Blackpool, UK songwriter Victoria Hesketh. Tipped for greatness in 2009, she conspicuously failed to live up to the hype with a less than riveting debut album. Four years on, in some ways it is a surprise that Little Boots is still a going concern – though less of a shock to discover that Hesketh is still swimming in the reheated electro-disco pool.
Musically, she appears – as per her biggest hit – to be stuck on repeat. Her dinky electropop evokes the formal structure of the Pet Shop Boys and Giorgio Moroder (indeed ‘No Pressure’ is virtually a cover of ‘I Feel Love’); the problem is that there is little of their deadpan subversiveness. Stranger yet is the new project’s retro feminist gloss. She wears a three-piece suit in several of the publicity shots accompanying the release, with Hesketh promulgating on record the message that women have a place in the work-space alongside men. Maybe I’m missing something but it is not exactly a revolutionary proposition.
KEY TRACK: 'Working Girl'