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La Roux "Why haven't I discovered synths before?" Hotly tipped synth pop duo. But it’s all about her.
This year, it’s all about girls with synths whose name begins with ‘L’. Enter Eleanor Jackson, or La Roux as she is otherwise known. The 20-year old South Londoner with the A Flock Of Seagulls haircut and ’80s synth pop obsession was Number 5 in the BBC’s influential Sound Of 2009 poll. Good call. Her debut single, Quicksand, released on French label Kitsuné at the end of last year, is a canny update of vintage electropop. What few people know is that she used to be a folk singer in the Laura Marling mould. Plus La Roux is, in fact, a duo. Jackson explains all…
You’ve been tipped for success this year. How does it feel?
Amazing. Although obviously it’s a bit weird that there’s a buzz about three girls making synth music all of whose name begins with ‘L’ [Little Boots, Lady Ga Ga and La Roux all featured in the BBC’s poll]. Obviously, I didn’t know that when I started out.
La Roux is a duo, but your partner, Ben Langmaid, doesn’t do interviews or play live. How does the band work?
It’s a bit like Goldfrapp. We’re a duo, we are a band, but La Roux is my persona. We write together and co-produce together, it’s a complete 50/50 collaboration, but La Roux is very much my personality and the songs are about my life.Sounds complicated. Why is he keen to stay in the background?He just wants to make music, he doesn’t want to get involved in all the rest of it. He’s not part of the live show because there’d be nothing for him to do. He doesn’t sing, so he’d just be standing on stage for the sake of it.
Is he the same Ben Langmaid that released house records in the ’90s?
I’m not saying. He did other stuff before this, but it’s nothing to do with what we’re doing now. He’s not a producer that was given to me by a record label. We were signed as a duo.
You used to be a girl with an acoustic guitar. What happened?
My dad plays the guitar and he taught using Bob Dylan songs when I was a kid. I used to play Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright when I was 13. When I first started working with Ben, which was about four years ago, it was still just me and an acoustic guitar. All of the first songs we did were all on guitar, very folky, kind of Joni Mitchell because that’s what I’d been doing in my bedroom. But when we started recording them, something just didn’t sound right. It sounded like coffee table music, which is so not what either of us wanted. We both felt like we’d come to a real dead end. Then one night, I was round someone’s house and I started messing around on a Korg synth. I was like, This is amazing. Why haven’t I discovered synths before this. That was it.
Where does the ’80s influence come from?
My mum and dad. My mum always had the Eurythmics playing around the house. I remember when I was a kid I found a Michael Jackson tape by the telly. I knew who he was, but I didn’t have anything of his. It was the one where it’s just his face with the big mask [1991’s Dangerous]. I played it every single night while I went to sleep. I’ve always loved Last Christmas by Wham! After I discovered synths, for about a year I was on iTunes every day listening to ’80s stuff. Thompson Twins, ABC, Japan, Blancmange everything that Human League have ever done, everything that Heaven 17 have ever done and early Depeche Mode. Speak & Spell [Depeche Mode’s 1981 debut] is my favourite album of all time.
What does La Roux mean?
It means ‘red haired one’ in French. We didn’t have a name for ages. I was racking brains about it. I knew that when the right one came along it would feel right. I wanted it to be something to do with my red hair and the fact that I’m a bit French. I also wanted it to match up to other band names in the same vein from the ’80s. Finally, I wanted it to have a slightly enigmatic quality. I wanted people to be like, What does that mean? I came up with it after I went to see the guy who was designing graphics for our MySpace site. He’d just found a baby name book in the bin. I opened it and the first word that popped out was ‘La Roux’. I didn’t know what it meant. I just liked the way it looked. Then I looked up what it meant and I was like, Tah-dah!
Hair seems to be quite important in La Roux. That’s quite a quiff you’ve got. Please explain.
That just happened gradually over time without any intention. I used to have long hair down to my hips. I cut it all off over the course of three months. The flick – I like to call it a flick, not a quiff – wasn’t intentional. It was more of a joke to start with. Like, You can’t do that with your fringe. I’ve always been a tomboy and I’ve always wanted to get out of bed and not have to do my hair. Now I do.
What’s the dream?
For people to like the music so I can keep making it. I don’t do anything else. Even two years ago before I was signed, I never had time to do anything else. I just don’t care about anything else. This is it for me.
La Roux’s new single, In For The Kill, is released on Polydor on March 2.
- 13.02.09
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