Album Review: Little Boots - Nocturnes

Little Boots by name and little boots by nature, apparently: Victoria Hesketh, or Little Boots, which was the nickname she was given because of her petite feet that Hesketh kept as a stage name. Nocturnes, produced by Tim Goldsworthy, is her second album and it drops four years after her debut, Hands. This electro-pop songstress from Blackpool has escaped the British pop scene and now splits her time between London and LA.

Released on her own On Repeat Records label, Hesketh went her own way after experiencing some conflict with her previous label. Little Boots is almost like an underground-pop artist in that her songs are a bit too electro for commercial stations yet also uphold a standard pop structure. Throughout Nocturnes, piano is ever-present. You can imagine Hesketh writing her songs on a piano and then electrifying them later. Opening track Motorway is about Hesketh putting her tiny shoes to the pedal and fleeing by car in the wake of a hand-drum solo. Some of the songs on this album – such as Confusion, during which Hesketh sings, “Everything's changed/You're not the same/Who can I blame?” – hint at a bad break-up in the life of Little Boots. Broken Record is a bit more pop than electro and her diction in the chorus carries the beat. Shake is the strongest song on the album, with a pulsating beat that places you in the club.

Little Boots sounds a bit like Robyn, but without the sassy attitude. Her music is very safe and doesn't really take you by surprise. However, she is true to her genre and, as a pop artist, actually doesn't make songs to please the crowds. Instead she makes songs to please electro fans.