Let's Hear It For The Girls

By Joe Kavanagh

While this year may never be remembered as one of the most creative or original in music, it is certainly shaping up to be one of the watershed moments for the fairer sex, with the emergence of a plethora of charismatic acts who have largely left the male side of 2009's music equation basking in the shade.

In contrast to years gone by, when female singers essentially were faced with the choice of being a sex-pot, quirky dame or sugary-sweet innocent (or some mix of each), this year in music will be remembered for the pure volume of strong, intriguing women that have assumed their place at the head of the music table, each with their own distinct flavor, ideas and style.

From the in-your-face chutzpah of Lady Ga Ga, to the compelling originality of Ladyhawke and Little Boots, inspired by Lily Allen and the spirit of Joni Mitchell, these new acts are working on their own terms, with their own agendas, each one cerebral, committed and fiercely independent in the way they work, talk and dress.

It has been almost a quarter century since Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin sung about sisters doing it for themselves, and while its words were more of a call to arms in 1985, that message has now been transformed into fact in a music world which has been long dominated by the gender with two different chromosomes.

The latest voice to be added to this growing chorus is one of its most absorbing yet, unafraid of controversy and an artist whose career takes as much inspiration from Annie Lennox's words as her music.

Elly Jackson was born and raised in London, the daughter of actors Kit Jackson and Trudie Goodwin, the latter of whom is known for her long-time portrayal of Sergeant June Ackland on the hit UK cop show, The Bill.

Although she claims that she did not find it odd growing up with a mother whose character has made her something of a national treasure in Britain, her childhood differed in some ways from most kids and contributed to the strong sense of individuality that has since become something of a trademark.

In a recent interview, she confessed: "If I was ill or off school for a day, my mum would take me to work and I'd get looked after by the make-up girls. They used to put fake wounds on me and I'd go to school with these really realistic injuries. I was always obsessed with wearing slings too. I guess it was just attention seeking..."

While her sense of individuality would eventually become an advantage in her music career, it initially singled her out for bullying as a child, in a school she once referred to as a "rightwing religious school".

Such was the negative association she held between torment and her school that upon finishing she deleted every single school-related number from her phone in order to completely erase it from her life.

Like many others who suffer at the hands of bullies, she found an escape through music, playing guitar from the age of six, and writing her own songs when only 12-years-old.

Initially, she was inspired by the likes of Joni Mitchell, Carole King and Nick Drake, working with just an acoustic guitar, but during her teen years she was introduced to rave culture and became something of a fixture at some of the city's warehouse parties.

She continued to work on her music, but realizing her limitations, she actively sought out a producer with whom to work with, leading to a moment of pure serendipity, which has defined her career ever since.

When one unnamed producer that she hoped to work with told her that he was too busy, he passed on the number of Ben Langmaid, who agreed to take the precocious 16-year-old under his wing.

A veteran of the club scene, Langmaid was actually the classmate of Faithless main man (and brother of Dido), Rollo Armstrong, and the two had even enjoyed their own fleeting brush with fame in the mid-90s, as dance act, Huff & Puff.

At the outset, Langmaid and Jackson began working on acoustic guitars, but inspired by his adoration of 80s acts like the Human League, Japan, Yazoo and Blancmange, the duo decided to take their sound in a more synth-driven direction.

Over the course of the next four years, they worked on their music, first under the name Automan, then under the name La Roux, which they took from a book of children's names because it essentially meant "the red", in keeping with Jackson's hair.

Fortune intervened once more, when Jackson's father passed on one of their demos to a friend at Polydor Records, and they were subsequently signed to a multi-album deal.

By year's end, a buzz began to surround the band, which carried them right onto lists by the BBC and Guardian newspaper naming their acts to look out for in 2009.

Intrigued by their retro sound, journalists and media types were also drawn to Jackson's distinctive style which seemingly amalgamates everything from the aforementioned Lennox, to Ziggy Stardust, Toyah and Flock Of Seagulls.

Proving that her distinctiveness does not end at her image, she has since become known as a cerebral pop star who is unafraid to speak her mind, and recently spoke of her distaste of how many female artists allow themselves to be presented in the media, telling the BBC: "R'n'B is very kind of empty, like hollow and not rooted in anything good or healthy. Lyrically it's just like really, really bad - I think a lot of it just doesn't mean anything. I think a lot of it is, 'Baby I love you, I want to kiss you'. It's just like what are you on about? Shut up. It certainly doesn't make me feel anything special, or doesn't make me think, or go somewhere else in my mind. I just don't get it. The clothes... I just think it's basically naked. It has been like that since the nineties, it's not just now. I just don't think it's good and there's lots of girls in pop that are 17/18 and they're half naked and it's just 'Why?' And you wonder if you weren't half naked would you be selling any records? Which obviously is just wrong. You shouldn't be selling records because you're half naked - if you want to do that be a porn star."

Naturally, her words would not seem so important without her own body of work to back them up, but singles such as In For The Kill and Bulletproof have already become two of the biggest tracks of the year and any lingering doubts as to whether they were a media fiction were put firmly to rest with the release of their eponymous debut album.

In their own words, it is a work that borrows its sound from the 80s, its lyrical style from 70s artists such as the abovementioned Drake and Mitchell, and its melancholic undercurrent from 50s acts like the Shangri-Las and The Supremes, resulting in something fresh, which stands on its own musical merit.

Along with floor-fillers, the album also contains delicate moments, rich with sincerity and soul, where laid back verses often explode into soaring choruses, producing pop music of almost epic proportions.

Currently surfing the crest of a critical and commercial wave, the band is slated to perform at virtually all of Europe's big name summer music festivals before taking their act across the Atlantic later this month, where they will spend much of July and August attempting to see if their European success story translates as easily in the world's biggest music market.

Their sound may make borrow heavily from the synth-pop of the 80s, but make no mistake about it Elly Jackson is very much a product of the present, and a name for the future.