When they emerged at the dawn of this decade, Ladytron sounded like the future of pop – or at least a smart pastiche of 1980s pop futurism given an artful 21st-century makeover. A chic British electronic quartet featuring two gamine girls and two androgynous boys, garbed in matching dark jumpsuits, they could have stepped out of a sci-fi movie directed by Jean-Luc Godard. They were Abba Noir. Pure Pop Art.

Fast forward eight years, and the future is not quite living up to its deliciously dystopian promise. After four albums and countless rave reviews, it was slightly disappointing to find Ladytron playing a fairly straight goth-rock set to a modest Oxford crowd on Tuesday, instead of beaming their latest pan-dimensional, live spectacular down from a stadium-sized space station orbiting Jupiter.

Perhaps inevitably, Ladytron shows have adopted a more conventional indie-rock format, adding a guitarist and drummer to beef up a keyboard-driven stage set-up. Singer Helen Marnie has also taken over more traditional frontwoman duties from co-vocalist Mira Aroyo, becoming more animated in the process. This was a necessary evolution, given the chilly aloofness of the band’s early performances, but it has diluted their striking image and ultra-modernist aesthetic: they have gained confidence, but lost some magic and mystery along the way.

Marnie sang most of the main vocals, although Aroyo performed a smattering of tracks alone – chiefly those in her native Bulgarian, including the stern Black Cat from the album Velocifero. Her strident Eastern bloc voice is harsher and less melodic than Marnie’s, but it brought some texture to a set that lacked variation in pace and arrangement. Indeed, too often the words were muffled entirely behind a blustery barrage of analog synthesizers and clattering drums.

In fairness, there were several bona fide disco-pop anthems. One early highlight was the walloping Ghosts, a malevolent twist on Goldfrapp’s robotic glam-rock formula. Also impressive were the roaringly melodramatic recent single Runaway, which sounds like a lost Pet Shop Boys classic, and the darkly enigmatic teen confessional Seventeen.

Good stuff, but not quite enough. Ladytron will need more of these scowling show-stoppers to live up to their early promise. They have evolved, but their glittering future still lies ahead of them.

Tour continues tonight at the Old Fire Station, Bournemouth, and at the Shepherds Bush Empire, W12 on Fri 21 Nov, 2008. Details: ladytron.nettwerk.com

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