Supervision – La Roux | Album Review

Track Listing

21st Century
Do You Feel
Automatic Driver
International Woman of Leisure
Everything I Live For
Otherside
He Rides
Gullible Fool

La Roux’s latest album Supervision is a sleepy, dreamy ride through generic synth-pop. While the singing and harmonies are competent enough, the indifferent lyrics and lack of stand-out tracks make this a really forgettable album, lacking the cutting edge that’s so evident in some of La Roux’s previous work. Is this the same artist that produced Bulletproof all those years ago? If you go back and listen to the bouncy, up-tempo melody in that and return to Supervision, the difference is night and day.

The album begins with ’21st Century’, utilizing a familiar, simple drum beat and chords over verses that have a Scissor Sisters feel to them and an indifferent chorus. From here, Supervision happily trudges along through several different productions that all stick to that simplistic 80’s bassline but with a distinct lack of flair, enthusiasm or bounce that made La Roux’s early work so exciting. All of that is lost here on an album that feels like it’s been made out of necessity rather than telling a distinct story or bringing something new to her character.

To be fair, ‘International Woman Of Leisure’ does increase the tempo, while ‘Otherwise’ is probably one of the better tracks but everything just feels so flat and uninspiring that it’s hard to find a stand-out track. The songs bleed into one another and nothing grabs your attention. Having listened to the album on the train, at home and at work, Supervision just blends into the background with nothing to snap you out of a dream-like stupor  and nothing memorable enough to stand out and warrant a repeat listen.

The productions are competent enough, the singing is harmonious and certainly hits the right notes, as you’d expect from someone like La Roux, but everything entombed around that is just so indifferent and average. It’s a shame but La Roux’s new album certainly isn’t bulletproof and no doubt more than a few critics will take shots at this forgettable, mediocre, synth-pop offering.

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