WOULD YOU LIKE A SERVING OF SHOULDER PADS WITH YOUR POP HITS?

There's a part in 'Quicksand', the video-clip for Brit breakthrough artist La Roux's first single, that has got to be ripped off the video from 'Romeo and Juliet' by Dire Straits. White background, head bowed, the artist in question slowly gazes upwards to stare through the camera, before elegantly donning round tortoise shell spectacles. There may not have been the same accessory present, and the genders may have been reversed, but this is totally something Mark Knopfler would do (I think he even is wearing glasses in 'Romeo and Juliet' - anyone?). Take into account that the rest of the clip takes place in front of varying degrees of peach-hued sunsets, and includes the feminine silhouette, obligatory leotard clad dancer fade-outs and a fair few tropical cocktails and you've got a 100% amazingly throwback clip. Wearing her influences on her sleeve and in her hair colour Elly Jackson, the 20 year old femme behind La Roux unashamedly cites Annie Lennox and the Eurythmics, and early Depeche Mode as influential cornerstones while writing her first album, whose singles thus face straddle the line between that futively '80's strong-yet-emotional electronica and squeaky clean pop, with an appropriately impressive emphasis on outfits and visual aesthetics - David Byrne shoulder pads! The album is due to drop in the UK on Polydor in Spring, and while we will undoubtedly have longer to wait, this release is going to be worth its weight in guilty pleasure gold.

You can watch 'Quicksand' at www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMBNZ6mDSYk