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For Witching Hour, Ladytron pulls back on the synthpop styling of their previous work and pushes forth noisy guitars and a richer production value.  The sound is now equal parts dream-pop, danceable electronica, and shoegaze; a somber and moving release that burns with soul-searching intensity and chills with a dark, atmospheric beauty.  

“Destroy Everything You Touch” is the early highlight of the record: a driving chorus, pounding bass lines, dazzling synths, all topped by a gorgeous vocal delivery by Helen Marnie combine for easily the best song on Witching Hour, yet energy is consistent throughout the release.  Songwriting is hook-laden and provocative, and while a couple points in the record do slip into the generic, fantastic production smoothes over weak spots and helps carry the listener's attention all the way through to its dazzling finish; Witching Hour leaves you breathless.
 
Heartbreak and foreknowledge of impending heartbreak are major themes within Witching Hour, mixed with and linked to the melancholy of nighttime musing.  The stunning “All the Way…” closes the record with snowstorm imagery, a fitting end to the album. The slow-burning melody bobs over layers of guitar drones, drifting off with a final slow repeat of the songs’ opening line: “They heard the sound/ of the snow falling.”  The record is solid almost without exception; unfortunately, its first single, “Sugar,” sells the band short with a repetitive melody and a cheap drug reference.  I suppose it goes along with the clichés of the electroclash movement, but we’re shown in other tracks that the band is capable of much more.
 
Witching Hour is the kind of album that requires a good break after its finish; it’s a heavy-hearted listen, and a once-through is more than enough for the day, or longer.  Yet it always draws the listener back- its melodies are memorable, its sounds full of nuance, its production crystalline, its lyrics deeply introspective.  Witching Hour is one of the most exciting, and possibly one of the best, records of the year.
 

Jonathan Avants 11/23/05