While no one expected Ladytron to become a sunshine reggae band after signing to Island, the direction of their third album is no less surprising. When they first emerged in 1999, they were a perfectly symmetrical two-boy, two-girl synth group whose taste in glacial electronics was matched by equally frosty demeanours. They played gigs in art galleries and Eastern European military clubs.

But from the cutting edge of machine-made electro they have moved to the centre of the pop spectrum with a sound that exudes laser-guided confidence.

The new single, Destroy Everything You Touch, could be the Sugababes covered by My Bloody Valentine, while International Dateline has a cyanide-laced melody that creeps along, your skin matching it every step of the way.

Soft Power — with its chorus of “daylight is the enemy” sung in Helen Marnie’s otherworldly voice — shows that the group hasn’t entirely transformed from the forbiddingly cool four-piece of old. Yet by switching icy electronics for proper rock thunder, they have undoubtedly produced a record with sonic spellcasting by the earful. Their best yet.

Amber Cowan

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