Had they been around in the ‘80s, The Veronicas could surely have picked up work soundtracking the films of the late John Hughes. Like the writer of Pretty In Pink and The Breakfast Club, Australian twins Jessica and Lisa Origliasso – and their various collaborators – compose hymns to high-school life, their songs picking the lock on the teenage psyche to reveal a squirming jumble of joys and neuroses. However, where Hughes’ best work reeled you in with its sense of authenticity and, crucially, romance, there’s something essentially cynical about The Veronicas.
Formerly more of a pop-punk proposition, this second album – originally released in their homeland back in 2007 – is a vehicle for sleek electro-pop, the kind that you could imagine trundling off the Xenomania production line. They hit an immediate peak with the opening brace of ‘Untouched’ and the title-track, those choruses as clingy as Brüno’s Velcro suit. It’s on spirited numbers such as these and the zesty ‘Popular’ and ‘4ever’, rather than the downbeat and formulaic ballads – ‘I’m Looking At You and ‘Someone Wake Me Up’ – that the duo excel.
Overall, the mawkish and/or cringeworthy moments are in the minority, though the girls do find the time to indulge in a little Katy Perry-style titillation. “I wanna kiss a girl, I wanna kiss a boy,” they lustily declare on ‘Take Me On The Floor’. Still, manipulative as it might be, there’s no denying Hook Me Up’s designer highs.