Music, Style & Culture

Ladytron: ‘This Record Is A Very Different Animal’

Jim Keoghan catches up with Reuben Wu from the band.

Futuristic electro-pop provocateurs Ladytron have recently returned from outer-space, beaming down to earth with their fifth album. It’s been three years since the quartet released anything new and so Jim Keoghan catches up with Reuben Wu from the band to talk about their latest release, 'Gravity The Seducer'.

The first single, 'White Elephant', sounds quite dreamy, is this indicative of the rest of the album?
The whole album sounds quite different from the previous one. It's more spacious and laid-back and yes I think it's true to say that 'White Elephant' is a good indicator for the direction of the album. If people like that, then they won’t be disappointed by 'Gravity The Seducer'.

In what ways is the new album a departure from 2008's 'Velocifero' and is there any continuity?
I think it’s fair to say that 'Velocifero' was something of an adrenaline-fuelled adventure. In many ways it was a natural extension to the album that preceded it, 'Witching Hour'. Both albums were very energetic. By contrast, this time there has been something of a break. Unlike its predecessors, 'Gravity The Seducer' has a lot more room to breathe, it’s a much more relaxed and capacious album. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no overlap or continuity at all. You can see this with songs such as 'Versus' and 'Tomorrow', which could weave themselves seamlessly into the previous album.

Which artists and music have influenced you while making the new album?
It was quite weird because I found myself going back in time a bit. I began listening to a lot of the stuff I liked when I was a teenager, such as 'Chill Out' by KLF and some old Aphex Twin. And then I complemented this with some more recent work like Laurie Anderson's 'Homeland' album and Max Eastley's 'Arctic'.

You’ve worked with Barny Barnicott before, why did you choose to work with him again?
He worked as the studio and mix engineer for 'Witching Hour' and we were impressed with his work, how well we collaborated and how good our relationship with him was. I think we all understood what kind of album we wanted to make, which is really important when you’re going into the studio together.

You made 'Velocifero' on the back of two years touring. But that hasn’t been the case this time round. Was that a conscious decision?
I don’t think you could say it was a conscious decision; it was just how things turned out. But in the end, I’m glad that we did take so much time off. The new album has really benefitted from that decision. Taking time off from touring has given us time to write songs in a completely different head space. 'Velocifero' took a lot from the momentum we had gathered from a lot of touring, resulting in an album that was very energetic. By contrast, this record is a very different animal, one that has reflected our lives over the last few years.

You’ve released a ‘Best of’ already this year. Because of this do you feel that 'Gravity The Seducer' represents a ‘new beginning’ for the band?
The ‘Best Of’ was a real milestone for us. I’m not sure we really expected to be at this point with Ladytron, it’s all been quite a surprise for us all and so we were keen to mark the decade of making music together in some manner. The ‘Best Of’ seemed the most obvious and appropriate way of doing this. But although I can see why some people might see its release as us drawing a line under one part of our career, that’s not how we see it. And the reason for this is that we think of every album we make as a new beginning, it always seems new and exciting to us.

Daniel Hunt (Ladytron) has described the album as the ‘most perfect work we've done’, do you agree?
I think it’s always difficult to say that one album is better or more perfect than another. On its release every album perfectly epitomises the band at that time. Whenever we have put an album out we are always convinced that it was the best that we could have done and that the sound produced is exactly what we wanted. But, having said all that, I have a weird feeling that this one does feel like it's the best collection of songs we've ever produced. Whether others will agree, only time will tell?

Are you going to be touring the album?
Yes, we are touring, although in the short-term this is going to be solely in the US. We’ve got a tour that kicks off on the 22nd of September in Phoenix and then carries on well into October, finishing on the 15th in Miami.

Ladytron's new album 'Gravity The Seducer' will be released on 12th September via Nettwerk Records.