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The long overdue second album from Little Boots, pop's space princess, is finally among us. But has it been too long?
Little Boots initially surfaced in the heady days of nu rave, as a kind of synth-disco star. She appealed through her feel-good rhythms and innovative take on instrumentation, as presentable as much at festivals as on the club scene. Potential was good.
Sadly, the frightful industry dithering that now seems to accompany any second album that represents anything more than a dead cert has taken its toll. Too long has passed and 2013 is not 2009. While the public's need to dance is no less now than then, the sounds that make feet move are no longer the same. Granted, there is still a healthy appeal to her disco sound, which increasingly resembles a Cargo mix night. But when there's bolder and more brash acts out there its hard to see Little Boots cutting through. 'Shake' touches on the dub trend, while 'Motorway' is the club anthem.
Yet elsewhere the material is just too subtle. 'Crescendo' for example defies its own name sake by never moving beyond the insipid in spite of the dulcet vocals. And despite the potential of its cracking 70s bassline, 'Beat Beat' muffles its strength - Little Boots' vocals – to the back of the mix like some sort of unknown audio soup.
Equally, Nocturnes also suffers a little from a lack of originality. One track melds into another with minimal variation in style (and thus the dance mix tape comparison). With this second album, the same tricks don't quite work twice. Little Boots' cunning live antics with crazy instruments such as her beloved Tenori-on were part of her wow factor and gave an interesting touch to her first album Hands. But when it takes the song 'Strangers' two and a half minutes to actually get going, one can't help but search tentatively for the shuffle button.
In many respects, this is a much more developed and mature album than Little Boots' debut. But in growing up Little Boots has cast aside some of her strengths. Club-length tracks now compromise the instant pop she once peddled, and ambient mixing robs this material of its immediacy and presence.
More mature Nocturnes might be, but attention grabbing it is not. While this album will find appeal with certain audiences, it is unlikely to deliver the mainstream success required to make album three a certainty. One can only hope that a lesson can be learned and a happy medium achieved in her sound going forward.
