Having generated more buzz than a box of Honey Cheerios off the back of, well, about four songs, the ‘Boots to fill are no longer quite so little. From platinum tables at the Brits to tonsil tennis with Florence Welch backstage at the NME awards, Victoria Hesketh’s gleaming electro-pop (highly reminiscent of a certain gay icon from down-under) looks intent on setting up shop in the British mainstream for the foreseeable future. And if the forecasts are correct, it’s going to be raining unicorns and 80s-tinged electro diamonds come Glastonbury.
The lid’s as well and truly sealed as a baked bean can confronted with a blunt can-opener this time around and although New in Town’s a far-cry from the truth following the endless stream of media coverage that’s being lavished over Little Boots currently, it’s a demon to get your hands on. In fact the closest you can get to Hesketh’s latest slab of pop perfection set for release on the 25th May are grainy Youtube vids and a couple of commercially-released mixes. Yet as if carrying out research for a Masters thesis a valid gauging of her first single proper can only truly be achieved upon giving all three sources a spin. Vocally, echoes of Roisin Murphy reverberate throughout the fist-punching choral euphoria, with Hesketh proclaiming ‘I don’t have a lot of money, but we’ll be fine. No, I don’t have a penny, but I’ll show you a good time’. And who are we to argue with the current pinnacle of British musical innovation and beacon of hope at this month’s SXSW festival? The Fred Falke mix comes across as a sonic sci-fi battle between the Chemical Brothers and Abba and is frankly, astounding. The Drop the Lime take on the record is a somewhat more generic affair that could have been recorded at any time over the past 15 years and could be attributed to any faceless global DJ from Benny Benassi to Basshunter, albeit with impeccably brooding synths.
Just like the despicably ideal girl-next-door, Little Boots shan’t be revered as the new girl in town beyond this release, just as that glamour icon-come-pop princess every music aficionado aspires to become.
Little Boots- New in Town (Fred Falke Vocal Mix)
Little Boots- New in Town (Drop the Lime Dub Mix)
