Felt Mountain was a slow grower for me but once I got it ... I well and truly fell in love ... the only drawback for that album was that it was on the tail end of the whole triphop movement in music ... so it was like watching the dying embers of a fire that had already served its purpose ... Goldfrapp then dived into electonica but still maintaining that sense of nostalgia ... it was electronica circa Moroder ... an almost hedonistic approach to technology informed by the excesses of disco and inspired by the promise of technological progress .... black cherry still remains one of my favourite goldfrapp songs ... supernature was a resounding dudd for me but with Seventh Tree we have come full circle ... well almost.
Admittedly I was initially swayed by the album packaging ...
The limited edition comes in a box reminiscent of old classical albums ... that slightly grainy texture of the cardboard ... and the cover art ... an old photo slightly overexposed ... the kohl eyes and tousled blonde hair ... the hat ... the cheesecloth .. and then all that clown and owl imagery screaming folkart and pagan ritual ... but considering its alison goldfrapp its more wicker man than protest songs round a campfire ... but it was not quite enough for me and my credit card ...
But I consulted the one person whose music tastes I trust implicitly ... well 90% of the time ... and he recommended it with a resounding YES .. caps and exclamation points included ... so I purchased it outright ... no waiting for the sale bin for this one ...
I've read so many negative reviews ... including Pitchfork pronouncing it in effect boring ... but maybe its my age, or the fact that I'm very much an anglophile ... but from the minute I put the cd on I was hooked .... I very rarely have the time or the inclination these days to just sit down and listen to an album from start to finish without moving from my seat .. but I did with this one ... all that heavy reverb, guitar lines to the fore, the heavy plucked base ... the damper pressed piano ... the layered vocals ... yes we've been here before time and time again ... but maybe as with all trends ... we're coming back full circle towards another appreciative 60s phase ....
The Beatles and the Brian Wilson have never really gone away ... and maybe its time for another assessment through the eyes of a newer generation ... a generation that grew up with grunge and lo-fi slacker rock ... where early new wave innovators are to them a distant memory ... or (bloody hell) what their parents listened to ...
I mean with other cutting edge acts like Caribou pilfering this decade for inspiration ... who knows what we'll get when the rest of the commercial world jumps on the bandwagon ... with highwaisted bell bottoms sneaking back into fashion ... maybe its time to pull out those tri-corn hats and band uniforms or at least snatch them from the less than subtle hands of the emo crowd ... project some oil slicked celluloid on the wall ... and wrap everything up in aluminium foil ... and stick Goldfrapp's Seventh tree on the stereo to soundtrack this momentous occasion ...
Me? ... I'm off to buy myself a mod suit and skinny tie ...
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