And so the Little Boots album arrives at last. Is it all we (I) could have hoped for? Well, yes. And no. Yesandno.

Like pretty much every other album these days about half the tracks on here have been floating around in various forms for about a year now. Still, it’s remarkable how generally cohesive the whole thing sounds. It’s polished to within an inch of its life and while perhaps not sounding quite like the proverbial million dollars (these are troubled times after all) it’s clear a fairly sizable bit of cash has been thrown at this project. And that last word there is key -- it really does sound like a ‘project’. Multiple producers (including Greg Kurstin, Joe Goddard from Hot Chip, and Lady Gaga hitmaker RedOne) have lent their weight to the album, beefing up the sometimes weak songwriting with all manner of shiny synths and whooshy sound effects. Of the lot, the RedOne track, ‘Remedy’, is probably the standout -- though it’s by far the least Little Boots-sounding song on the record (it’s also already spawned a pretty excellent Rusko remix which you can here a bit of here).

Other highlights include the naggingly catchy ‘Earthquake’ and the campy Phil Oakey duet ‘Symmetry’; overall, though the album just feels a bit too calculated, transparently programmed to appeal to Top 40 fans and Hype Machine heads alike. Basically, it sounds like Little Boots wants to be Annie. No bad thing, that -- except we already have an Annie who’s doing a pretty good job of being, er, herself. What set Little Boots apart (at least initially) was the endearingly ramshackle, DIY approach to the music -- clearly influenced by Goddard; unfortunately most of that sound has been sidelined on this album, in favour of glitzy, sequined numbers like ‘New In Town’ and the aforementioned ‘Remedy’. It’s by no means a bad album, just a mildly disappointing one. There are glimmers of what made Little Boots so great to begin with on here but they are, alas, just glimmers.

Still, ‘Remedy’. What a tune, eh?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNZdiVFGWOM