Ladytron are an electronic band formed in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in 1999. The group consists of Helen Marnie (lead vocals, synthesizers), Mira Aroyo (vocals, synthesizers), and Daniel Hunt (synthesizers, guitar, vocals). Reuben Wu (synthesizers) was a member from 1999 until 2023. They have released seven studio albums: '' 604'' (2001), '' Light & Magic'' (2002), '' Witching Hour'' (2005), '' Velocifero'' (2008), '' Gravity the Seducer'' (2011), '' Ladytron'' (2019) and '' Time's Arrow'' (2023). They also issued the live album '' Live at London Astoria 16.07.08'' in 2009 and the compilation album '' Best of 00–10'' in 2011. They have produced remixes for artists such as Dave Gahan, Erasure, Goldfrapp,

Apoptygma Berzerk Apoptygma Berzerk (; commonly abbreviated to APB or APOP) is a Norwegian band that produces a style of electro rock, industrial rock, synth-pop and ballads backed with electronic rhythms, commonly known within the scene as "futurepop". Apoptygm ...

Placebo A placebo ( ) can be roughly defined as a sham medical treatment. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. Placebos are used in randomized clinical trials ...

, Blondie, Gang of Four,

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English Rock music, rock band that was formed in London, England, London in 1999 by co-founders Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, sampler) and Russell Lissack (lead guitar). Their first four albums all featur ...

, Kings of Convenience, Soulwax and Róisín Murphy. The band's name was taken from the song " Ladytron" by

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry (lead vocals/keyboards/principal songwriter) and Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson (bass). By the time the band recorded their Roxy Music (album), first albu ...

. Former Roxy Music member

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

said in 2009, "Ladytron are, for me, the best of English pop music. They're the kind of band that really only appears in England, with this funny mixture of eccentric art-school dicking around and dressing up, with a full awareness of what's happening everywhere musically, which is kind of knitted together and woven into something quite new." Ladytron described their sound as " electronic pop", while music journalists have also described their sound as

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

, electronic rock,

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

, and new wave, among other genres. Some of the group's songs contain lyrics written by Aroyo in her native Bulgarian.

History

Band formation and debut single

Liverpudlian producers and DJs Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu met in the 1990s. Hunt was a member of the bands Venini and Jules Verne and also founded the indie record label Invicta Hi-Fi and a nightclub. Wu trained in Industrial Design at

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield station, Sheffield railway station, whil ...

and graduated in 1997. He became an industrial designer at Team Consulting Limited, until finally going full-time with the band around 2002. Using a moniker inspired by the song " Ladytron" by

, Hunt and Wu recorded the debut single " He Took Her to a Movie" for £50 with the guest vocalist Lisa Eriksson (who later formed the band Techno Squirrels) and released it in July 1999. In the summer of 1999, Hunt and Wu met Scottish student Helen Marnie through various DJ gigs, and Bulgarian-Israeli Mira Aroyo through a mutual friend. Marnie and Aroyo joined the band as vocalists and keyboardists. Helen Marnie studied music at the University of Liverpool where she received a Bachelor of Arts in pop music in 1999. Mira Aroyo was a postgraduate research geneticist in the Department of Biochemistry,

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

First EPs and ''604'' (1999–2001)

During 1999 and 2001 Ladytron released the EPs '' Miss Black and Her Friends'' in December 1999 exclusively in Japan, '' Commodore Rock'' in June 2000, '' Mu-Tron EP'' in October 2000 and the singles "Play Girl / Commodore Rock" in 2000, "Playgirl" in 2000 and again in 2001, " The Way That I Found You" in 2001. All the songs (except "Miss Black", "Olivetti Jerk" and the remixes) from these releases were later included on their debut studio album. "He Took Her to a Movie", ''Mu-Tron EP'', "The Way That I Found You", were all selected as

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

"Single of the Week". Ladytron released the debut album '' 604'' on 6 February 2001 on Emperor Norton (US), on 26 March 2001 on Labels (Germany) and on 2 April 2001 on Invicta Hi-Fi (UK). It was re-released on 20 July 2004 on Emperor Norton (US) and on 14 January 2011 (Germany), 18 January 2011 (US), 24 January 2011 (UK) on

Nettwerk Nettwerk Music Group is an independent record label founded in 1984. The Vancouver-based company was created by principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record label to distribute recordings by the band Moev, but the label expanded in Ca ...

. ''604'' has been written mostly by Daniel Hunt and co-produced by him and Lance Thomas (who also engineered and mixed the album). The band wore uniforms inspired by the science fiction movie ''

The Andromeda Strain ''The Andromeda Strain'' is a 1969 novel by American writer Michael Crichton, his first novel under his own name and his sixth novel overall. It documents the outbreak of a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism in Arizona and the team of scie ...

'' until the end of 2003. Daniel Hunt said in an interview for Jound from 2001: "I'm really into ''The Andromeda Strain'', so that's kind of an influence on the title of the album and the uniforms we've got and stuff. But the design – me and Reuben just love that film". Also in an interview for Chaos Control magazine from 2002 Hunt explained the '' 604'' album title: "It's the

area code A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, rea ...

for

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

... we're glad we've attached this strange importance to that number, it crops up everywhere now. We noticed when we stayed in Hamburg in Germany (in a hotel called "Commodore" – pure coincidence), that the number to phone reception from your room was '604'. Moments afterwards the building had caught fire and we were lucky to escape with our lives. I'm not joking". Ladytron performed on 4 August 2001 at Festival Internacional de Benicàssim in Spain, on 10 August 2001 at La Route du Rock in France, and on 26 August 2001 at

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading, Berkshire, Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend ...

in the UK. On 5 December 2001, they performed four songs for Radio 1's John Peel Show. On 1 October 2001, the compilation album '' Reproductions: Songs of The Human League'' was released on Carrot Top Records and it included

The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic music, electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their t ...

' song " Open Your Heart" covered by Ladytron.

''Light and Magic'' (2002–2003)

Their second album '' Light & Magic'' was released on 17 September 2002 at Emperor Norton Records (US) and

Telstar Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...

(UK). The album was also released on 7 April 2003 at

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

(Germany) and on 21 June 2003 at Victor Entertainment (Japan). It was re-released on 20 July 2004 on Emperor Norton (US) and on 14 January 2011 (Germany)/18 January 2011 (US)/24 January 2011 (UK) on

. ''Light & Magic'' featured a darker sound than their previous album. It was written and produced in Los Angeles by the band and co-produced by Mickey Petralia. The album included the underground hits " Seventeen", " Blue Jeans" and "

Evil Evil, as a concept, is usually defined as profoundly immoral behavior, and it is related to acts that cause unnecessary pain and suffering to others. Evil is commonly seen as the opposite, or sometimes absence, of good. It can be an extreme ...

". They also issued in 2003 a limited 7" single, "Cracked LCD / USA vs. White Noise". They toured over a year to support the album. On 4 December 2002, Ladytron returned to John Peel Show and performed live 11 songs from their first 2 albums. In 2002, Ladytron rescored the 1982 Tron film for a live event in London. On 7 October 2003, they issued the mix compilation '' Softcore Jukebox'' on Emperor Norton. Besides the songs of other artists, the compilation also includes two of their own songs, the single remix of " Blue Jeans" renamed "Blue Jeans 2.0" and a cover of Tweet's " Oops (Oh My)".

''Witching Hour'' (2004–2007)

Ladytron began working on demos for their next album immediately after concluding Light & Magic tour with a homecoming gig in

in September 2003, where they were supported by Franz Ferdinand. Within a few months, they had mapped out the entire record and by the time they were ready to start recording in April 2004, their UK label

Telstar Records Telstar Records was a British record label that operated from 1982 to 2004. Background Telstar Records was founded in 1982 by Sean O'Brien and Neil Palmer with a government loan of £120,000. It was launched as a specialist compilation marketi ...

had gone into administration. Their US label, Emperor Norton, also had problems: the company was purchased by

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label ...

in 2004 and was then shut down later that year, with Rykodisc inheriting its back-catalogue. The band announced on 7 December 2004 that they signed to

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

. In 2004, Ladytron were booked to play a series of shows in China as part of an exhibition tour set up by the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

. They played on 24 and 25 September 2004 in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, 28 September 2004 in

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

, 6 October 2004 and 7 October 2004 (DJ set) in Shanghai. Ladytron released their critically acclaimed third studio album '' Witching Hour'' on 3 October 2005 on

Island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

(UK) and later in other territories. Island Records also released a limited edition of this album in the form of a 2 disc set: a CD with the album and a DVD of video from the tour of China ("Once Upon a Time in the East: Ladytron in China") plus 3 music videos ("Destroy Everything You Touch", "Sugar", "Seventeen"). ''Witching Hour'' was re-released on 5 April 2007 on

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

(Germany), on 5 November 2007 on So Sweet (UK), and on 18 January 2011 (US)/24 January 2011 (UK) on

. The album was recorded in 2004 at Elevator Studios in Liverpool and it was produced by Ladytron and Jim Abbiss. It featured

Pop Levi Pop Levi (born Jonathan James Mark Levi, 22 September 1977) is an English singing, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Biography Levi grew up in the suburbs of Birmingham and attended Shrewsbury School, a Public school (UK), pub ...

on bass, live drums by Keith York and electric guitars mixed with their trademark sound.

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

described it as a "quantum leap record". The songs "

Sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

", " Destroy Everything You Touch", "International Dateline", "Weekend", and "Soft Power" were issued as singles. " Destroy Everything You Touch" () became the band's best known song. In 2006 saw the light ''

Extended Play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

'', a two-disc EP CD/DVD compilation that featured exclusive unreleased remixes and B-sides, as well as a DVD with the same content as the one from ''Witching Hour'' limited edition. Also in 2006 Ladytron recorded and released the live EP '' The Harmonium Sessions'' with 4 songs from their third album. Without any real label support, Ladytron toured exhaustively over the next two years, on the strength of their cult following. They played in North America, Europe, and South America. In early 2007, they also opened for the European shows of

, at the invitation of Trent Reznor.

''Velocifero'' (2007–2009)

Ladytron were dropped by Island Records and signed to

in late 2007. Between 2007 and 2008, the band recorded the follow-up to ''Witching Hour'' at Studio de la Grande Armée in Paris with help from

Alessandro Cortini Alessandro Cortini (born 24 May 1976) is an Italian musician best known for his work with the American industrial band Nine Inch Nails. He plays modular synthesizers, keyboards, guitar, and bass guitar. Cortini is the first Italian inducted ...

( Modwheelmood,

, SONOIO) and Vicarious Bliss (

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

DJ Mehdi Mehdi Favéris-Essadi (20 January 1977 – 13 September 2011), better known by his stage name DJ Mehdi, was a French-Tunisian hip hop and house music producer and DJ. He was signed to the label Ed Banger Records, founded by his friend Pedro W ...

). On 2 June 2008, Ladytron released their fourth album '' Velocifero'' on

. The band stated that "velocifero" literally means "bringer of speed" and is also the name of a classic retro styled scooter. The album spawned three singles: "

Ghosts In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

", " Runaway" and " Tomorrow". In mid 2008, the group composed three exclusive tracks performed in Simlish for The Sims 3 game soundtrack: "Rockfalls & Estuaries", "She Stepped Out of the Car" and "Young Etruscians". Ladytron sang a song titled "Use Your Mind" on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

's Yo Gabba Gabba!. On 6 April 2009,

issued the remix compilation '' Velocifero (Remixed & Rare)''. In 2009, Ladytron toured North America with

The Faint The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Graham Ulicny, Dapose and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes (band), Brig ...

, and performed two special shows with

at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

. In the same year they announced that they would be the opening act for

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Basildon, Essex in 1980. Originally formed with the line-up of Dave Gahan, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher (musician), Andy Fletcher and Vince Clarke, the band currently consists ...

on a few concerts in Eastern Europe, but these concerts were cancelled due to Dave Gahan's illness. Also in 2009 Ladytron self-released their first live album '' Live at London Astoria 16.07.08'', and co-wrote and produced a few songs for

. The songs "Birds of Prey" and "Little Dreamer" were released a bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of her 2010 album '' Bionic'', and "Birds of Prey" was later named as one of the "Best Deep Cuts by 21st Century Pop Stars" by the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine.

''Best of 00–10'' and ''Gravity the Seducer'' (2010–2011)

The soundtrack of the video game '' FIFA 11'' included a new Ladytron song, " Ace of Hz", which was also released as digital single on 30 November 2010. On 11 January 2011, the band issued the

music download A music download is the digital transfer of music via the Internet into a device capable of decoding and playing it, such as a personal computer, portable media player, MP3 player or smartphone. This term encompasses both legal downloads ...

'' Ace of Hz EP'', which contained the album mix as well as five remixes. On 28 March 2011, it was released the compilation '' Best of 00–10'' featuring 17 tracks on standard edition and 33 tracks on deluxe edition plus an 80-page booklet. Both editions included two extra tracks, " Ace of Hz" and a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of Death in June's "Little Black Angel". Also in 2011,

reissued all their previous albums, the remix compilation '' Best of Remixes'' and the

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

video compilation ''Best of 00–10 Videos'' which included music videos for the singles "

Playgirl ''Playgirl'' is an American magazine that has historically featured pictorials of nude and semi-nude men alongside general interest, lifestyle, celebrity journalism, and original fiction. For most of its history, the magazine printed monthly a ...

", " Blue Jeans", " Seventeen", "

", " Destroy Everything You Touch", "

", " Runaway", " Tomorrow" and " Ace of Hz". On 20 December 2011,

issued the remix compilations '' 604 (Remixed & Rare)'', '' Light & Magic (Remixed & Rare)'' and '' Witching Hour (Remixed & Rare)''. During April 2011 and July 2011, Ladytron performed live in Austria, China, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Poland, UK, Ireland, Hungary and Spain. Their fifth studio album, '' Gravity the Seducer'', was released in the United Kingdom on 12 September 2011 and in the United States on 13 September 2011. The album was recorded in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

's countryside and it was produced by Ladytron and Barny Barnicott (

Arctic Monkeys Arctic Monkeys are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 2002. They comprise lead singer Alex Turner, drummer Matt Helders, guitarist Jamie Cook and bassist Nick O'Malley. The co-founder and original bassist Andy Nicholson ...

, Kasabian,

Editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

). Daniel Hunt said that "''Gravity the Seducer'' is more of a jump than the last album was, more ethereal and melodic, a touch more abstract in places than we've gone before, baroque 'n' roll". "Ace of Hz", which appears on the album, was previously released as a single from the band's greatest hits compilation '' Best of 00–10''. The first single from '' Gravity the Seducer'', " White Elephant", was issued on 17 May 2011 and its accompanying video was posted on YouTube on 26 July 2011. The band released two more singles, "Ambulances" on 16 June 2011 and " Mirage" on 8 August 2011. The music video for "Mirage" was posted on YouTube on 11 November 2011. During September 2011 and December 2011, the band toured in United States, Mexico, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore. For the concerts in North America, Ladytron were supported by SONOIO, VHS or Beta and

Geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

Hiatus and side projects (2012–2015)

The soundtrack of the video game '' The Sims 3: Supernatural'' included a new Ladytron instrumental track, "Tesla". Using her surname as a stage name, Helen Marnie started in 2012 a solo career. She self-released through PledgeMusic her debut solo album '' Crystal World'' on 11 June 2013. The album was produced in 2012 in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

by her bandmate Daniel Hunt in collaboration with the Icelandic musician Barði Jóhannsson. Marnie released a second solo album titled '' Strange Words and Weird Wars'' on 2 June 2017 on Disco Pinata. This album was recorded at Chem19 Studio, Glasgow and produced by Jonny Scott. On 22 February 2013, Ladytron premiered the "International Dateline" music video. It was shot in 2006 during '' Witching Hour'' era, left unfinished, rediscovered and finished by Daniel Hunt in 2012. On 29 November 2013, Ladytron released the remix album '' Gravity the Seducer Remixed'', a collection of remixes of '' Gravity the Seducer'' songs. Ladytron featured shortly on the section "Resurgence" of the 2014 music documentary '' Beautiful Noise''. This documentary also features several short interviews with Daniel Hunt.

Self-titled album and ''Time's Arrow'' (2016–present)

On 18 July 2016, the band posted on their official website: "After a five year hiatus following the release of their fifth album '' Gravity the Seducer'', another chapter in Ladytron's story is about to begin." On 26 November 2016, Ladytron posted on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

an image with a SSL recording console, implying that the recording of their sixth album started. On 28 February 2018, Ladytron started a PledgeMusic campaign to finish recording and releasing their new album. On the same day they released the first single "The Animals". On 16 August the band premiered the single "The Island". The track was accompanied by a disturbing short film directed by Bryan M. Ferguson. On 10 October the band announced that the new album would be titled '' Ladytron'' and released on 15 February 2019 through their own Ladytron Music imprint via !K7. PledgeMusic suspended operations in February 2019, after repeated cases of failing to pay artists. The band subsequently issued updates stating that while much of the merchandise had never been made, they had been able to buy the vinyl and CDs from PledgeMusic's administrators and were in the process of sending them out to subscribers who were willing to pay for the postage. On 16 September 2019 Ladytron premiered the music video for "Deadzone". The video was directed by frequent collaborator Bryan M. Ferguson. On 4 February 2020 Ladytron premiered the music video of "Tower of Glass". Ladytron released a 20th anniversary edition of their second album, '' Light & Magic''. On 22 August 2022, the band published a previously unreleased video for the album's title track, "Light & Magic". Ladytron announced the release of their seventh studio album, '' Time's Arrow'' for January 2023, alongside the release of the single "City of Angels" in October 2022. On 14 March 2023, Wu announced on Twitter that he left the band due to his commitments to his art and photography career in USA.

Side projects

All band members are also involved in various side projects. Besides touring, each member plays DJ sets (solo and with other band members) in clubs and events around the world. Ladytron have produced remixes for many artists, including Dave Gahan, Erasure, Goldfrapp,

, Blondie, Gang of Four,

, Kings of Convenience, Soulwax and Róisín Murphy. Using her surname as stage name, Helen Marnie released 2 solo albums: '' Crystal World'' on 11 June 2013 and '' Strange Words and Weird Wars'' on 2 June 2017. Daniel Hunt worked on several movie scores, including that of '' Would You Rather'' in collaboration with Icelandic musician Barði Jóhannsson. Hunt also produced Marnie's album, '' Crystal World''. He started the band Tamoios with singer Luisa Maita, and Fernando Rischbieter, in 2014, in São Paulo, Brazil. Reuben Wu is an accomplished photographer. He posted a selection of photos on his own website and he also released in 2011 a book with a collection of photographs from an expedition with a friend on

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), previously known as Spitsbergen or Spitzbergen, is a Norway, Norwegian archipelago that lies at the convergence of the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. North of continental Europe, mainland Europe, it lies about midway be ...

in the same year. Hunt, Wu and DJ Revo opened the

club night Evol in September 2003. In September 2005, Hunt and Wu helped by some collaborators, opened the Liverpool bar/restaurant/music venue Korova. Mira Aroyo collaborated with John Foxx and the Maths and The Projects. She also worked for some documentaries. Ladytron are credited as co-writers and producers of the bonus songs "Birds of Prey" and "Little Dreamer" from the 2010 album '' Bionic'' by

Music style

Ladytron have described their sound as "electronic pop", with music journalists similarly describing their sound as

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

. They focused on a balance between pop structures and experimental sounds. Their sound has also been described as

, electronic rock,

post-punk revival Post-punk revival (also known as indie rock revival) is a Music genre, subgenre or movement of indie rock that emerged in the early 2000s as a stripped-down and back-to-basics version of Guitar-rock, guitar rock inspired by the original sounds a ...

, new wave,

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie rock, indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion (music), distortion and effects, a ...

, witch house, and

art pop Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theory, art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, film, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre dra ...

. While some writers have labeled Ladytron as an

electroclash Electroclash (also known as synthcore, retro-electro, tech-pop, nouveau disco, and the new new wave) is a Music genre, genre of popular music that fuses 1980s Electro (music), electro, New wave music, new wave and synth-pop with 1990s techno, re ...

act, others have claimed that they are not entirely electroclash and Ladytron members have also rejected the term, with Daniel Hunt and Helen Marnie commenting: Reuben Wu said about the process of making a new Ladytron album:

Touring

Ladytron toured during each one of their major albums: ''604'' (2001), ''Light & Magic'' (2002–2004), ''Witching Hour'' (2005–2007), ''Velocifero'' (2008–2009), ''Best of 00–10'' (2011), ''Gravity the Seducer '' (2011), ''Ladytron'' (2019–2020). During the years, they toured in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, and Australia. The band played at various

music festivals A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

like La Route du Rock 2001, Reading Festival 2001, Koneisto 2001, Festival Internacional de Benicàssim 2001 and 2005, Coachella Festival 2003 and 2006, Hultsfred Festival 2003, Arvikafestivalen 2003 and 2006, Lowlands Festival 2003, Dot-to-Dot Festival 2005, Pukkelpop 2005, Exit Festival 2005, Creamfields 2007, Electric Picnic 2007, Bonnaroo Festival 2008, Ruisrock Festival 2009, Traffic Festival 2009, Standon Calling Festival 2009, Electrosonic Festival 2009, Ping Gu Valley Festival 2011, Donaufestival 2011, Selector Festival 2011, Hegyalja Festival 2011, Decibel Festival 2011, DeLuna Fest 2011, Zouk Festival 2011, Wave-Gotik Treffen 2024. Since ''Light & Magic'', Ladytron started to tour extensively and to add touring members to play live bass and drums. Previous touring members include

(bass during ''Light & Magic'' tour), Andrea Goldsworthy (bass during ''Witching Hour'' tour), and Keith York (drums during ''Light & Magic'' and ''Witching Hour'' tours). Bands to open for Ladytron on their tours include

Simian The simians, anthropoids, or higher primates are an infraorder (Simiiformes ) of primates containing all animals traditionally called monkeys and apes. More precisely, they consist of the parvorders New World monkey, Platyrrhini (New World mon ...

, The Presets, Client, Phaser, CSS, Asobi Seksu, Mount Sims, Crocodiles, Franz Ferdinand, SONOIO, VHS or Beta and

. Ladytron have opened for other artists like Soulwax on their UK tour in 2001,

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

in 2003, and Goldfrapp in 2006. In early 2007, they opened for

on their European tour, at the invitation of Trent Reznor. In 2009, Ladytron and

co-headlined a North American tour. During the early part of the ''Witching Hour'' tour, the band used to name their four Korg MS-2000B synths to easily differentiate them: ''Cleopatra'' (Marnie), ''Babylon'' (Aroyo), ''Ulysses'' (Hunt), and ''Gloria'' (Wu). A staple of all Ladytron shows is Korg MS-20 played by Mira Aroyo.

Band members

Current members * Helen Marnie – lead vocals, synthesizers (1999–present) * Mira Aroyo – synthesizers, vocals (1999–present) * Daniel Hunt – synthesizers, guitars, bass guitar, vocals (1999–present) Former members * Reuben Wu – synthesizers (1999–2023)

Discography

*'' 604'' (2001) *'' Light & Magic'' (2002) *'' Witching Hour'' (2005) *'' Velocifero'' (2008) *'' Gravity the Seducer'' (2011) *'' Ladytron'' (2019) *'' Time's Arrow'' (2023)

Awards and nominations

Classic Pop Reader Awards , - , 2019 , "The Island" , Video of the Year , MVPA Awards , - , 2006 , " Destroy Everything You Touch" , Best Directional Debut , PLUG Awards , - , 2006 , " Destroy Everything You Touch" , Song of the Year , Popjustice Twenty Quid Music Prize , - , 2003 , " Seventeen" , rowspan=2, Best British Pop Single , , - , 2006 , " Destroy Everything You Touch" ,

Media usage

References

External links

* * {{Authority control English musical quartets English synth-pop groups English electronic rock musical groups British electropop groups British post-punk revival music groups Musical groups established in 1999 Musical groups from Liverpool English remixers Nettwerk Music Group artists Rykodisc artists Island Records artists Telstar Records artists 1999 establishments in England