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|
| Date |
August 15 |
| Type |
Review |
| Source |
The Observer |
| Title |
Alison’s Wonderland |
| Country |
UK |
| Journalist/Photographer |
Kitty Empire/ Ross Kirton |
| Pix |
 |
| Text |
CD OF THE WEEK
Goldfrapp
Supernature
THOSE two grandes dames of pop, Madonna and Kate Bush, are both due to release new albums in the coming months. An unlikely diva, the petite Alison Goldfrapp, may just have made one of those albums redundant and seriously compromised the sense of occasion surrounding the other. An eccentric Englishwoman with a very fertile imagination has just made a great record. Rejoice early!
Her third album, the follow-up to 2003’s squelchy hit, Black Cherry, claws its ground equally from the dancefloor and La-La-Land, the earthly sphere and the far reaches of the imagination.
It’s got raunch and elegiac string sweeps, glam singalongs and avant-garde, pre verbal trilling. It takes Black Cherry’s idiosyncratic Hansel-&-Gretel-go-kinky-disco shtick and crowbars a great big pop space for it. Supernature isn’t quite a masterpiece (like, say Bush’s Hound of Love is), but it’s as near as dammit in 2006 and deserves to be massive.
As befits a fairy story of sorts, Goldfrapp – Alison and silent partner Will Gregory – have travelled a long, long way in the space of three albums. Supernature bears little resemblance to Goldfrapp’s 2000 debut, Felt Mountain, a woozy, post-trip hop confection that felt like being hit over the head with a thick volume of European children’s tales, while a string arranger and a session vocalist repeatedly pressed a preset labelled “atmospheric”.
The duo soon grew tired of their haunted wood, the story goes. Instead, they decided to allow a little of electroclash’s knowing carnality into their never-never-land and have a bit of a laugh.
The result three years later was Black Cherry, an experiment whose arched eyebrow and sense of fun (one of its singles was called “Strict Machine”, for goodness sake) paid off in real terms.
Goldfrapp’s Marlene Dietrich-in-rubber routine wasn’t just “sexy” in inverted commas, it was sexy, full stop. And commercially viable. Emboldened, Goldfrapp and Gregory decided the outre nightworld of the clubs, where you can be whatever you want, was their new home.
Supernature luxuriates in this newfound confidence. Half of it speaks directly to the body, half floats around just above the ears. First single “Ooh La La”, a saucy retread of Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”, in part, isn’t actually one of the better calls to the dancefloor.
“Lovely 2 C U” is superior. Its title nods to Prince and its bass hook contrasts splendidly with the abandon in Goldfrapp’s aerated falsetto. “Beautiful” is another appealing glam-fest that drags Gary Numan’s old synths into Studio 54. Sandwiched in between the decadence and high kicking is a quiet place. The middle of the album takes time out from Supernature’s high camp to remind the world Goldfrapp are a classy outfit.
“U Never Know” is slow and staccato, with Alison’s often indecipherable mood-mewls bouncing deliciously off distorted string stabs. Staying slow, “Let it take U”, deploys a minor key piano and radar bleeps, recalling the stillness of Felt Mountain. As they pile of the gloss elsewhere, it’s nice to hear what Goldfrapp can do with restraint and simplicity.
But perhaps the very best song comes at the end. The bittersweet synth-pop of “Number 1” is a great morning-after coda to the sucked-in cheeks and high heels that have gone before and bodes exceedingly well for the next album. Goldfrapp, it hints, might have a beating heart, as well as a spinning mirrorball. |
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