Paradises

Paradises is Ladytron's eighth studio album, released on March 20, 2026 via Nettwerk Music Group. It marks the band's first album as a trio, following the 2023 departure of founding member Reuben Wu to pursue his art and photography career. The remaining three members, Helen Marnie, Mira Aroyo, and Daniel Hunt, wrote the album largely from scratch over an intense five-month period.

Recording sessions took place across multiple cities, including Liverpool, Sao Paulo, Montrose, and London, with final sessions at Dean Street Studios in Soho, the historic studio where Tony Visconti worked with David Bowie on Scary Monsters. The album was mixed by Jim Abbiss, a Grammy winner known for his work on Adele's debut.

The band described their primary motivation as recapturing the spirit of their earliest work: the fun and freedom of having nothing to lose. Daniel Hunt articulated a specific creative ambition: "There's an itch we never scratched. Despite our origins in the DJ world, we never actually made a 'disco' record." The result drew on proto-house, early electro, and disco influences filtered through Ladytron's characteristic icy aesthetic, described by the band as combining "tech primitivism, high-priestess disco, spectral soul, and balearic noir."

Abbiss, who also mixed their defining 2005 album Witching Hour, said of the demos: "When I heard the demos for Paradises, I was truly blown away. The variety in songwriting and arrangements reminded me of Witching Hour, but with its own unique atmosphere, sonics, and attitude."

Critics received Paradises warmly, with many noting its 16 tracks spanning over 70 minutes build vivid sonic worlds that blend dark electro-pop with visceral physicality. The album's title suggests multiple competing notions of paradise, each with its own seductive surface and darker undercurrent.

The album moves through expansive club-ready tracks before arriving at its closing statement, a spoken-word reflection for three voices that addresses both personal career choices and the political pressures bearing on communities. The arc from dance-floor euphoria to collective testimony gives Paradises a structural coherence unusual for an album of its length.