Little Boots: 'Hands'

She may have started out as a hip name to drop, titillating the trendy press and pop blogs with regular droppings on MySpace, playing an electronic instrument that looked like a Game Boy on Later and topping the BBC's Sound of 2009 poll, but Little Boots never had any intention of staying underground. "I want to write good songs that connect with a wide range of people", she told DS back in December, "from the cool kids to people who get their music from Blackpool Woolworths". If you substitute Woolies (R.I.P.) for HMV or iTunes, she's succeeded with bells on.

The tracks that built the Boots buzz - 'Stuck On Repeat', 'Mathematics' and 'Meddle' - are all present and correct here, but much of Hands works the glossier pop sound signposted by current single 'New In Town'. 'Earthquakes' begins with a colossal onslaught of synths and doesn't ease off, 'Remedy' is a slick-as-Brylcreem collaboration with Lady GaGa producer RedOne, and 'Symmetry' parachutes in Phil Oakey for a bold, bombastic love song. Snobby naysayers may complain that some of her early quirkiness has been lost - and they wouldn't be wrong - but most listeners will just think Hands sounds like one great electropop track after another.

In fact, the first six cuts - all uptempo, all corkers - could make up the best opening to any album this year. Much of what follows is more subdued, but misty-eyed electro-ballads like 'No Brakes' and 'Tune Into My Heart' are just as melodic and well-crafted as the flashier tunes at the beginning. Victoria Hesketh tried her hand at everything from jazz to big band to indie before developing the Little Boots persona, but it's her love of a good pop tune that shines through here. It's no coincidence that she describes romantic infatuation using a musical metaphor on 'Stuck On Repeat' or calls a song about long distance love 'Tune Into My Heart'.

What holds Hands together - and this is going to sound horribly Bridget Jonesy - is her unfailing belief in love. Whether singing about power struggles within a relationship ('Earthquakes'), being ignored by the one you've got your eye on ('Ghosts'), or getting over an ex ('Remedy'), there's a fundamental warmth and optimism to Hesketh's songs. "Nothing can divide a heart plus a heart," she sings on 'Mathematics', and it's hard not to be charmed by her attitude. This is a magnificent pop record that satisfies the heart, the feet and - most notably when she references Fibonacci and Pythagoras in 'Mathematics' - the head.


> Click in to read our recent interview with Little Boots