Open eyes; stretch toes; deep inhale; and you are awake.
I landed on the sofa with a chocolate croissant and an accai berry tea on my hands. The living room was flooded with light, so I decided that the TV screen would remain black today. I took Mrs Dalloway out of my bag, turned on the radio on it’s lowest volume, and started reading about Clarissa’s day around London.
At some point, the song on the background woke me up from my literary hibernation; it sounded awfully familiar. It took me a couple of seconds, and then a smile formed on my face as I put the book down and turned the volume up, going on a rather cringable singing/dancing frenzy.
l first saw Victoria Christina Hesketh in her living room, camera positioned in an awkward angle, comfortable clothing, brown hair, sparkly eyes, apologetic introduction to her small YouTube crowd. Moments later, I was hitting replay. Within a few months, she uploaded covers of artists like Madonna, MGMT, and Hot Chip. Christina became Little Boots, and her electro pop magic became the soundtrack of 2008 with her first album, Hands.
An amazingly talented musician, Little Boots is known for the creative use of instruments, from synthesisers and keyboards, to laser harps and stylophones. However, she became infamous when she started using a tenori-on, one of the most impressive ways to create live electronic music, composing the song in front of the viewers in minutes.
It is almost certain that you have heard her music somewhere: in a movie (Jennifer’s body), TV series (Vampire Diaries, Skins, Dollhouse, Melrose Place) or a commercial (Victoria’s Secret). Within months of releasing her EP, Little Boots was catapulted in the music stratosphere, and critics could not stop talking about her.
She was named the BBC Sound of 2009 winner (beating Florence and the Machine) and was nominated for a Critics’ Choice awards at the 2009 BRITs. She also was one of the Esquire “Brilliant Brits 2009” as well as a Rolling Stone Magazine ’2009 artist to watch‘.
Hands did not follow strictly on the EPs footsteps, and a lot of fans felt that she was trying to cover all the trends of the time, both in music and in image. My own concern was that Little Boots was risking losing her identity; the girl next door moved in a mansion, too big and polished; the brown hair was bleached, the bare face was painted, and the comfortable clothes were replaced by eccentric attires. Little Boots was wearing someone else’s shoes, and they did not seem to fit. Nevertheless, the album was absolutely amazing, and was stuck on the top of my most played list for months.
Now she is back, and she is here to stay; on the 24th of October 2011, Little Boots released her latest mixtape, brilliantly named Shake till your Heart Breaks to announce her new DJing tour. The tape included her new song Shake, that she later released on iTunes and on a collector’s edition 11′ record. The new album is due out later this year, and it is said to be influenced by the works of , J.G. Ballard, Sylvia Plath and Edgar Allan Poe, stating that it will be equally magical as Hands, but rawer and darker at the same time. Exciting.
The song finished and I was too excited to go back to reading. I unearthed my old iPod, got dressed, put my headphones on, and hit play the moment my feet touched the street. Revisiting Hands will have to do until I get my own hands on the new album. It is such a beautiful morning, and I have the perfect soundtrack.
Love,
G
