Ladyhawke – Anxiety

Meant To Be

Ladyhawke is just plain cool. The New Zealand pop star’s second full-length Anxiety, her first album in four years, stands the test of time and provides pleasing tunes to fans indie-rock as well as ’80s, pop and dance music.

While most of Ladyhawke’s latest tracks could still end up on the radio, nothing on Anxiety is quite as poppy as her 2008 single “My Delirium.” Citing influences like Nirvana and The Pixies for this album, her single “Black, White & Blue” features a lot of guitar and even more drums, both of which she played herself.

But it may not be the best song on the album. Anxiety begins with “Girl Like Me,” a heavy guitar-sounding song that gets to the theme of the album immediately in the chorus: “Between devil in the deep blue sea/I saw you dancing with a girl like me/I watched in silence as you held her hands/It’s all down the river for a girl like me.”

“Sunday Drive” doesn’t follow up with as an exciting of an intro, but picks back up on the grungy guitar eventually. The album ends on two strong songs, “Cellophane” and “Gone Gone Gone.” “No sleep tonight/We’re on the night train/To anywhere but here,” she sings on “Cellophane,” and “Gone Gone Gone” is a good one for her dance music fan-base.

It is understandable why Ladyhawke was pissed that her March 2012 release date was pushed back until now. It’s clear she was ready this whole time.