Another electro vocalist perhaps, but La Roux is always engaging

Another week, another debut from an electro singer. But can La Roux compare to Little Boots or Lady GaGa? Also this week, strong stuff from Lenka and Kish Mauve.


La Roux By La Roux: When the book is closed on 2009, the section entitled 'pop music' will be dominated by extravagant-looking females and 1980s synthesisers.

Thus far, we have had Lady GaGa, Little Boots, Florence And The Machine and Bat For Lashes. Enter La Roux's Elly Jackson. While it may be easier to give her self-titled debut a miss – been there, done that – it would also be a mistake. In For The Kill is already established as a club anthem and needs no introduction, but in Quicksand, Bulletproof and I'm Not Your Toy she showcases an ear for sparse, leftfield rhythms and a voice which, if not comforting, is always engaging.

Lenka By Lenka: After a successful acting career in her native Australia, and an equally fruitful stint as singer with atmospheric group Decoder Ring, Lenka decided to go it alone with a solo career.

But no, come back. Anyone thinking this is a typical Aussie-actress-turned-singer-type affair will be disappointed – or quietly pleased, perhaps – with Lenka's offering. Mixing the eclecticism of Feist, Regina Spektor and Lily Allen, she still manages to keep her own unique voice.

Lead single The Show is typically radio-friendly, and while she might have an interesting past, on the strength of Anything I'm Not and Like A Song, her future could much more intriguing.

Black Heart by Kish Mauve: London boy-girl dance-pop duo Kish Mauve has been on the scene for a few years now, perhaps most famously as the brains behind Kylie Minogue's hit 2 Hearts a couple of years ago. Debut album Black Heart sticks fairly consistently to a conventional upbeat pop formula, with big synthy choruses and a sprinkling of distorted guitar.

The moodier songs on the second half of the album are a little more interesting, with the closing I Love Your Rock'n'Roll sounding not a little like early Spiritualized.

Notes And Rhymes by The Proclaimers: Having danced along in a hundred dingy nightclubs to an 'ironic' – or is that post-ironic? – DJ playing (I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles, it is hard to know just how serious one should take a new Proclaimers album.

Are they one-hit wonders? Misunderstood Celtic troubadours? The Krankies with acoustic guitars? Disappointingly, a listen to their eighth studio record sheds little light on the dilemma. At times the subject matter is overtly political, tackling unemployment, capitalism and war.

But the lightweight backing, which positively defines the word twee, along with by-numbers fillers like Love Can Move Mountains, ensures a mixed message.

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