Ladytron - Velocifero [2LP Silver]

Ladytron's Velocifero comes on silver vinyl across two 140 gram LPs, the Liverpool band's darkest and most muscular synth record from 2008.

The group's fourth album was recorded in Paris over 2007 and 2008, and it finds Helen Marnie, Mira Aroyo, Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu trading some of their earlier electroclash cool for heavier, more ominous textures and bigger, bolder hooks. Released through Nettwerk, it kept their devoted following firmly hooked and climbed to number three on the US dance albums chart.

Lead single "Ghosts" is the obvious entry point for newcomers, a spooky, stomping earworm with a chorus that refuses to leave. Elsewhere, the group lean into the unexpected: "Black Cat" and "Kletva" are sung entirely in Bulgarian by Aroyo, the latter a cover of a Kiril Marichkov song that becomes one of the album's most hypnotic moments. "Tomorrow," another single, adds a brighter rush of melody among all the shadows.

There is a cinematic sweep to all of it, part gothic pop and part machine-age dance music, with the four members sounding fully in command of their own shadowy world. Spread across four sides of silver vinyl, it is the kind of record that sounds even better with the lights down.