I’m very much looking forward to Ladytron’s next album, Paradises. It’s due for publication next spring, but the band has been releasing singles from it in a steady drip, and I really like each one. “I See Red” might be the strongest of a strong showing, so far.

The promotional material for Paradises, showing up now and again in my inbox via Bandcamp, is how I first learned that founding member Reuben Wu has permanently—and, by all accounts, amicably—left the band, presumably to pursue his many ongoing art projects. Prior to that, Ladytron’s membership had been a static quartet from its 1999 founding through 2023’s Time’s Arrow. But now there are three: Daniel Hunt, Mira Aroyo, and the amazing Helen Marnie, of whom I’m a double-fan by way of her solo albums from the 2010s.

Promotional graphics for the upcoming album and tour feature the three remaining members. To a long-time fan, these portraits seem unnervingly lopsided or badly cropped at first glance, despite the trio’s very intentional arrangment into various equilaterally triangular formations. This led to behind-the-curve fans like me to ask “Uh, where’d Reuben go?” on the band’s subreddit, and getting the news that way. It’s just something to get used to; time’s arrow, and all that.

The change leads me to reflect on how most album and promotional art for Ladytron has historically either featured all four members, or—at least as often—just the two women. It wouldn’t surprise me if all band portraits from now on always include all three. To feature only Marnie and Aroyo today would look less like “Here’s the band’s main vocalists” and more like “Here’s the whole band (not you, Daniel)”. I wonder if this also means Hunt will contribute more vocals, which I’ve always enjoyed. While absent from any of the band’s hits, Hunt’s voice is prominent in some of my favorite back-catalog songs like “Versus”, and I hear it in at least one of the new album’s tracks, too.

It’s safe to say at this point that I’ve been a fan of Ladytron for longer than I’ve been an attentive fan of any other musical act, even still-active bands I discovered much earlier in life. I like this band a lot and I’m grateful to be present as it evolves and changes over the years, continuously emitting light and magic.