Finally the wait is over. Almost four years after the release of her self-titled debut album, Ladyhawke, aka Pip Brown, returns to our airwaves with a superb new single. Black White & Blue is the first track to be released from the New Zealand native’s highly anticipated forthcoming album, Anxiety. In true Ladyhawke fashion Black White & Blue plays like a fastidious homage to the 70’s pop era when Fleetwood Mac was still at the height of their career. The accompanying video is also a throwback to the same decade with Brown channelling Faye Dunaway in cult favourite, The Eyes of Laura Mars; albeit with more awkward dancers than serial killers. There’s a jittery, somewhat clunky, percussion of an intro teamed with synthesisers aplenty before breaking into the chorus with a grand swell of emotion. It seems to be Brown’s winning formula so why not stick to it? As always the vocals are certainly polished but retain that trademark rough quality that Ladyhawke fans have come to know and love.
However those expecting a replica of the criminally underrated 2008 album may be a little disappointed. Anxiety, which has been entirely produced by Brown along with close friend, Pascal Gabriel, promises to be ‘darker and rockier’ (though the current single isn’t a reflection of this). Whilst Black White & Blue may not be in the same vein artistically as pervious tracks such as Back of the Van it is still manages to sound incredibly personal and hauntingly beautiful. “Life inside your head has come undone, your slow descent to madness has just begun,” she eerily professes. If liking this track is madness then I don’t want to be sane.
Platform Rating
9/10
Lora Somers – Platform
Tags: black withe and blue, ladyhawke, release, review, single, video
