A head for heights

LA ROUX,The Academy, Dublin Thurs 9pm €17.50 01-8779999

As we come to the close of the year, 2009’s list of hotly tipped pop stars isn’t looking as exciting or interesting as it did in January. Back then, it was Little Boots-this and Gary Go-that, and look what happened to them via poorly received albums and failure to engage with the public.

However, La Roux (aka Elly Jackson) not only caught a wave of popularity but hopped on top of it, nabbing a Mercury Prize nomination for the electro-pop duo’s self-titled album as well as taking up coveted space in pop charts around the world. And it doesn’t seem as if La Roux’s success had anything to do with something as variable and unscripted an entity as luck.

Her virtually inescapable hit songs (co-written by Jackson and Ben Langmaid), such as In for the Kill, Bulletproofand As If By Magicare mini- masterclasses in pop songwriting, as much in thrall to 1980s electro acts such as Human League and Blancmange as to a strong Noughties sensibility. Classy pop gig of the week, no question.

can’T see ThaT? caTch This

Digitalism (Miike Snow and Marina the Diamonds), Thursday, Carlow