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MELANCHOLY SKY
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6 Feb 2012 |
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|
| Date |
May/June 2004 |
| Type |
Mag |
| Source |
Filter |
| Title |
Alison of Oz |
| Country |
US |
| Journalist/Photographer |
Mark Von Pfeiffer/ Alex Freund |
| Pix |
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| Text |
ALISON GOLDFRAPP is the more attractive half and namesake of U.K. electronic sensation Goldfrapp. Will Gregory is the technical "wizard" other half. Back to Alison. She can shatter concret cinderblocks with the higher octaves of her vocal range. It's rumoured that the Pentagone has attempted to recruit her as a kind of sonic super soldier, but she's already got job security, if not a job in security. According to the mythical Institute for the Study of Song Occurrence, the Goldfrapp track Utopia from her 2001 debut Felt Mountain has been included on 97.8 % of all downtempo and chill-out anthologies released in the last two years. More importantly, she's now poised to drop a piston hipped sophomore effort untitled Black Cherry.
It's the kind of LP that makes you want to win the lottery, buy a penthouse in Manhattan and thow famous parties in its name. At times, it slinks drowsy and erotic, at other times it's as fast and straight forward as a spear gun to the head. Although echoes of Felt Mountain's surreal melancholy linger in tracks like Hairy trees and Forever, Black Cherry moves away from high-flung gothic torch songs, opting instead for a sleek cosmopolitan sensuality, reminiscent of producer Flood's work in the early '90s with Depeche Mode and Curve. Reminiscent. Not derivative. Goldfrapp has the kind of originality gained only through experience, even if she's only made two records. In the '90's, she lent her voice to the cause of acts like Triky and Orbital, where her nerve-melting presence-matched in sheer sexuality only by Blondie herself-brought the same message to bear again and again : there's no escape from Heaven.
At this moment, Alison's just arrived back to her London home, she's weary and she wants her tea.
[Curtain rises]
You're a real jetseter these day, pinballing across the big blue marble and playing djsets alongside high-ballers like Christopher Lawrence, Judge Jules and neckless wonder himself-Paul Oakenfold. Shepherd's Bush Empire, The Royal College of Art, the Sonar Festival in Barcelone, Ibiza, the Glastonbury Festival and back home in time for tea. What kind of stuff are you spinning ?
It's varied. A lot of it is real mellow. Electro. Disco. I don't really mix. It's more of just putting on a record and when it ends, I pop another on. Nothing elaborate.
There is an infamous promo picture taken of you playing the piano in your panties. For an extravagant amount of money, would you take it a step further and pose nude ?
It depends on the context. I've been asked to do it, but so far it hasn't seemed to fit.
You obviously have a singular beauty, not the standard diva crap. Does being an object of adoration make you anxious ?
I don't like to be made a fuss aver, but I'm not bothered at all.
Has a journalist ever put you in an unconfortable position or tried to paw you ?
They normally just shake and sweat.
I'm not sweaty at all. Incredible. How many bathing suits do you own ? Are you a bikini or one piece gal ?
A bit of both. For serious swimming, I have a one piece. It's a sober black affair.
Really ? I pictured you in one of those turn-of-the-century full-body suits.
Well, you need to go to the nude beaches in Spain. I've got a friend who went topless at a beach in the States and people were shocked !
Americans are not confortable with themselves in that way. Do you have any tattoos ?
Yeah, on one of my fingers. I did it myself in school with a pin and ink. My parents always thought I had spilled ink on it.
Everyday ?
Evidently.
Would you ever have children ?
I don't think so. Although, I fantasize about it now and then.
When I say "children" what word comes to your mind ?
Fat.
What do you think of when I say "Oprah Winfrey" ?
Loud.
Same as me, except I have them switched around. If you could have fat children in any part of the globe during any era, when would it be ?
During the Surrealist movement in Paris.
That would be during the '20s and the '30s ?
Yes, but not too much earlier than that because I don't think people took showers very often. The rich French were always perfuming themselves.
Not much has changed there. Tell me some things you can't live without.
Sex ...and ...and ...um ... and ...
What colour is your favourite pair of underwear ?
Black, Black cotton.
Do you believe in lust ?
Lust ? Yes.
How about love ?
Yeah.
Can you simultaneously have love and lust for a long period of time ?
Yes.
How do you know when a man is right for you ?
They're nice.
Nice looking, or nice in that he brings you chocolates all the time ?
They smell nice.
Does astrology have anything to do with it ?
No. I'm not a believer in that. But I'm a Taurus and a Chinese fire horse.
What's your favourite book ?
I have two : Perfume by Patrick Süskind and Solaris by Stanislo Lem. They've just made a shit movie of Solaris with George Clooney.
That bastard. Here's a compelling quote from you about Felt Mountain and its subject matter : "Twiching curtains, slaughter in the countryside, hints of disturbance. It's sort of beautifully macabre. I love all that David Lynch, Midwich Cuckoos thing but it isn't cinema, it's real." I'm not what Midwich Cuckoo is ?
It's a very weird British drama. Very bizarre horror. I don't know if yu can find it anymore.
What do you mean when you say, "It isn't cinema, it's real."
Did I say that ?
Yes
I've no idea what the fuck I was on about there.
Damn. I thought you might have discovered something. Can you tell me a bit about the title Black Cherry ?
It came to me in a dream-just the words "Black Chery" in huge floating letters. The combination of a fruit and a color. Our music is quite visual and as a title, it had sort of a dark fantasy element.
One could easily associate some of the surreal elements in your music with David Lynch and more specifically his composer Angelo Badalamenti. How do you achieve that cinematic mood ?
It's hard to find an outside reference. It's about the way we write and arrange and put everything forward. e try to make it impressive, like taking a journey.
Black Cherry is sensual where your first album is sentimental. Why the change ?
After touring with it and being immersed in it for so long, the Felt Mountain sound began to feel too epic and sweeping. We really needed to break away and start with something extremely different, even if we decided it was wrong later on.
After performing a song so many times, does it lose some of its meaning and become a sort of template ?
Definitely. That's why we chose not to include songs like "Little Death" and 'Sartorious", that we've been doing live over the last year, on the new album. It felt like we were parodying Felt Mountain. Wewanted to start fresh-to keep ourselves from getting fat and lazy... and boring.
You recorded Black Cherry in Bath, England where the conquering Romans built their bathhouses on the natural springs. What was that like ?
It was a dull place actually. We kept thinking we would move, but once we got into it we were afraid that if we tried to relocate it we would mess up the flow of things.
You worked on Felt Mountain in the countryside, but I've heard that parts of it were actually recorded outside, in front of all the crazed satyrs and dryards.
The track "Deer Stop" was.
Have you ever gone hunting ?
No, only in my mind. I wouldn't, unless I really needed to.
With a knife in your teeth, like back in the caveman days ?
Yeah.
Have you ever eaten an animal you've met ?
No, but my friend Jenny has. In fact, once she found a pigeon in the street, took it home and cooked it.
Intriguing.
I told her that they probably aren't the kind of animal you want to be eating. I don't know where she got the idea. She's a real country girl. She'll find a deer run over in the road and put in the back of her car.
Do you have any recurring nightmares ?
Yeah, about car accidents.
I'm assuming you've been in one.
Yeah, I wasn't driving. In fact, I had fallen asleep when we ran out of petrol on the freeway and were forced off the road.
It's hard to imagine, but have you ever had a civilian job ?
I had normal jobs when I was in my teens, but I was singing with a contemporary dance group in Belgium really early on. I started earning money with my voice when I was about 23.
My first acquaintance with Goldfrapp came when Thom Yorke mentioned you in an article. Not that it really matters, but what do you think of them as one of the first mainstream rock bands to incorporate a radically electronic sound and expect their fan base to follow. I think it was particularly difficult for Americans to swallow.
I really like them. I got a bit bored with their last album after hearing it so much, but they were playing it at a photo shoot I was doing in New York recently and I enjoyed it again. I hadn't heard it for a long time and began to notice some exciting things that I'd missed. I like their logic and how they go about combining everything. It's cerebral. He has an amazing voice. Although he does tend to whine a lot.
Especially with that much dough in the bank.
He could try and be happy for a bit.
Would you rather live your life blissfully insane or resigned to a lackluster reality ?
I'm already over the rainbow. [curtains falls] |
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