Albums : Little Boots : Nocturnes

Albums : Little Boots : Nocturnes

Listen To Little Boots : Nocturnes

New York's Music Hall of Williamsburg was a fitting stage for the unveiling of Little Boots Version 2.0. After chasing major label pop stardom on her 2009 debut "Hands," Little Boots -- aka 29-year-old British singer Victoria Hesketh -- went back to her dance roots and self-released her long-awaited follow-up, "Nocturnes," on Tuesday (May 8).

"Here in New York, the new album resonates really well because it's got a lot of those disco influences," Hesketh told Billoard prior to last night's show at Brooklyn's Music Hall of Williamsburg. "Disco is from New York, house is from Chicago, so something about this album seems to really resonate [in America]."

Despite landing her first bonafide hit in her native U.K. (the RedOne-produced "Remedy"), Hesketh has grown comfortable with her U.S. fan base. She sold out Music Hall of Williamsburg, drawing a crowd of indie aficionados and the sort of pop fans with an ear to the ground -- those who have their Florence and Robyn records, but can chat you up about Katy B and Disclosure as well.

Little Boots' music would reach its full potential in a larger theatre, where its myriad synthesizers and New Order homage would have more space to fill and more hands to shoot into the air. By starting her own label and regaining creative control from the clutches of the major label game, Hesketh might never ascend to those heights, but she's put herself on intimate terms with those who have stayed loyal and given her pop career some staying power. The Brooklyn gig, amidst a string of U.S. dates in support of the new LP, seemed like an early chapter in that reinvention.

Hesketh and her backing band (which included a live drummer and a pair of synth players) performed nine of "Nocturnes'" 10 songs. There was even a surprise performance of the bubbly non-album track "Headphones" ("I wear my headphones at the disco and nobody ever has to know!") that got a better-than-usual reception for a non-album track. It all culminated with the back-to-basics synth banger "Shake," which closed the encore beneath a sea of confetti (courtesy of openers Avan Lava, who stormed the stage with confetti guns). Still, Little Boots aren't ready to close the book on the major label days, including "Remedy" and another "Hands" track -- "Meddle" (an unlikely collaboration with pop producer Greg Kurstin and Hot Chip's Joe Goddard) -- in the encore. Both inspired as much intensity from the crowd's front rows as any if the set's selections.

In chatting up the crowd, Hesketh echoed her talk with Billboard hours earlier - gratitude, relief, and a bit of basking in accomplishment were the themes of the evening. "The thing that's been defining me for three years has been, 'I'm finishing my second album and it's taking a while,'" said Hesketh. "Now that's not the thing that defines me. I feel really free all of a sudden."

Nocturnes Review
In the last ten years, the UK music scene has been producing new female singer-songwriters like an exponential growth function let loose. After the great success of Ireland-native Róisín Murphy’s trip hop and dance-pop solo career in the UK, followed by Amy Winehouse’s planetary breakout and her revival of contemporary soul and jazz music, there have been few major waves of incoming sound — and look-alike female musicians. Adele and Duffy were the first ones to take and pass on Winehouse’s torch, by writing and producing similarly soulful and bluesy songs. By the end of the 2000s, a new wave of more-pop-oriented female artists brought VV Brown, Jessie J, Florence Welch (of Florence + The Machine), and Marina Diamandis (of Marina and the Diamonds). In the meantime, Róisín Murphy-inspired artists, such as Elly Jackson (of La Roux) and Ellie Goulding, diversified the music scene by popularizing electro-pop music.

Victoria Hesketh, otherwise known as Little Boots, is one of the latter. A self-advertised phenomenon on YouTube and MySpace, Little Boots came to prominence after her songs garnered the attention of various critics, who praised her for her refreshing twist on mainstream electronic music. The wide acknowledgement and hype escalated after the official release of her debut album Hands in 2009. While the album was a satisfying musical novelty, it lacked a smooth production, and the spark of her cool and quirky personality. Luckily, Little Boots’ new dance album Nocturnes compensates for the previous misses and brings out Hesketh’s modest uniqueness.

“Indebted to the night,” as Hesketh puts it, Nocturnes is a 50-minute album that weaves love and nightclub dance plots into heavy, Hercules-and-Love-Affair-esque beats. It might sound tawdry, but Little Boots does it well — just when the darker and rhythmically mellower tracks like “Motorway” and “Confusion” build up the album’s emotional spectrum, the album’s deep house and pop gems infuse the atmosphere with careless and sinister-yet-innocent hooks. The best of these is the track “Shake,” produced by Hesketh and Simian Mobile Disco’s James Ford, which defines the “ultimate dance track” template. With the infectiously catchy lyrics “Everybody shake, la la la la la la, until your heart breaks,” “Shake” is guaranteed to shake the unshakeable.

The album openly draws influences from many other artists. “Beat” sounds like an incarnation of Kylie Minogue, “Satellite” is reminiscent of a Kate Havnevik-inspired electro fairytale, and the rest of the tracks share the common flavor of Goldfrapp, Róisín Murphy and a bit of Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Even with all these influences and previously-invented dance tunes, Little Boots still sounds as tonic and refreshing as ever. A few tracks, such as “Crescendo,” “Strangers,” and “All For You,” become somewhat repetitive and bog down the album’s progressiveness, but the overall result is still satisfying. It took her some time to move from the comfort zone of her previous album, but it seems that she has finally found her own safe haven in the music industry.

With Nocturnes, Little Boots will permanently leave her footprints on the UK music scene. The album is not as old-school and original as Róisín Murphy’s Overpowered, nor does it possess the timelessness of Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black, but it has enough quality to prove her superiority over overhyped Brit contemporaries, such as Ellie Goulding. Just observe carefully — when the singles from Nocturnes reach the wider mainstream audiences, the clubbing scenes will ignite and perk up worldwide.


Contact Little Boots
Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | MySpace | Tumblr | Soundcloud | GM | Press | N America Booking | ROW

Contact Billboard
Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Tumblr | Google+ | Instagram | Pinterest | Spotify

Contact The Tech
Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | YouTube

Sources : Little Boots Photo | Listen To Nocturnes | Little Boots Article | Nocturnes Review

Purchase : iTunes | Amazon | Best Buy | Target