OK, I know full well I’m coming to the table a little later than most with this review but better late than never but if I come across something that I really like then it would be remiss of me not to at least give it some form of honourable mention (bearing in mind that most of the time I am a grouchy sod).

For the uninitiated, Ladyhawke is now more than just a mid eighties romantic medieval fantasy epic starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer (what do you mean, you’ve not seen it. It’s actually…alright he said making the latest in a long line of guilty admissions). Ladyhawke in It’s latest incarnation is Pip Brown from New Zealand. Her eponymous debut is a crafted ensemble of pop tunes which anchor themselves in the sound of the eighties. But just before you think that might not necessarily be a good thing let me set you something. Pretty much any of one of these songs could have been on the soundtrack album to any eighties brat pack film. You can quite easily picture some terse love scene featuring an awkward looking Emilio Estevez puckering up to some random Molly Ringwald type (usually in the rain) being set to any of these songs.

Ladyhawke’s sound is only half the story, I’ll grant you there are shades of Kim Wilde and Fleetwood Mac here in terms of sounds. However the songs themselves really are quality kicking off with the anthemic ‘Magic’ right through to the closer ‘Morning Dreams’. taking in the singles ‘Paris Is Burning’, ‘Back Of The Van’ and ‘From Dusk Till Dawn’ along the way. The material is geared directly at the heart of the pop market with songs about love and heartbreak and there’s nothing wrong with that providing that it’s done well and in this instance, it’s pretty much flawless.

A definite recommend…