Kevin Bronson on December 11th, 2018

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For over a decade, Ladytron were purveyors of sleek, pulse-quickening synth-pop — more erudite than their electronic brethren, and comfortably distant from whatever currents carried the flotsam of EDM. To think that they were once lumped in with electroclash bands. In short, Ladytron have spent their creative lives being more interesting than almost all of your favorite electronic artists.

The quartet — Helen Marnie, Mira Aroyo, Reuben Wu and Daniel Hunt — sprang back into action this year. “Ladytron,” their sixth full-length and first since 2011’s “Gravity the Seducer,” will be out Feb. 15. The announcement follows the release of two new singles, “The Island” and “The Animals,” which signaled an end to their seven-year hiatus, during which the members focused on solo exploits.

Besides their signature musical elements — sweeping analog synths, frosty vocals and beats that chug along like perpetual motion machines — there’s their distinct, almost doleful worldview. Lyrically, it’s as if they’re viewing the world from outside a terrarium, safe behind the glass but privy to all the lives inside. Or maybe it’s just “The Animals,” on which Marine incants “There’s no wrong / there’s no God / there’s no harm / there’s no love.”

The latest single “Far From Home” is a slice of dystopian disco, Ladytron serenading an escape to an unspecified place, away from “the weaponry, ideas, flames and reverie.” Is it south? It is west? Perhaps it’s not a geographic location but a state of mind, where Ladytron have been taking you since 2001.

||| Stream: “Far From Home”

||| Also: Watch the video for “The Animals”

||| Also: Stream “The Island”

||| Live: Ladytron headline Fonda Theatre on March 1. Tickets. They are also playing the spring CRSSD Festival at Waterfront Park in San Diego. Info.