Album Review

Blood Red Shoes – Lost Kids

• 8th May 2012

Lost Kids is the second single from Blood Red Shoes recent album In Time To Voices. It’s a big song, an angry rock song that bristles with raw energy, and it hits you straight between the eyes.

The Brighton duo, Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell, wrote the track during the London riots. Musically, the combination of Ansell’s pounding drums and Carter’s powerful guitar riffs provide a sense of the chaos and heated atmosphere of the times. In fact the sound is so big that it makes you check that there are indeed just the two musicians involved. Even the slightly quitter sections of the song only last a few seconds, just time for a breath before the temperature is dialled up once more.

The voices, male and female, combine very well together, almost merging into one vocal at times. Lyrically the song goes beyond the initially suggested urban alienation theme. Yes, these are “Lost kids with nothing left, throwing rocks into the dark.” But the real message is a chilling one: “We’re not fighting to be heard. We just wanna watch you burn.”

The chorus is big and anthemic. “And I can’t find my way, already buried anyway” is repeated, emphasising the anger central to the song. It’s repeated as the track ends with one last crashing guitar chord.

Blood Red Shoes? Great name, great single.