Goldfrapp - Seventh Tree

by Sarah Rowland

published: 7 / 5 / 2008

Label: Mute Records
Format: CD

Impressive fourth album from Goldfrapp, which finds the duo moving away from the dance electronica and ambience of the past and experimenting with an acoustic and indie folk sound

Review

Goldfrapp are one of those bands that manages to hold a cult following while also doing quite well commercially. The band's distinctive brand of electronic dance music has long been on the radar, but with their fourth album, 'Seventh Tree', they have taken the risk of completely re-writing their style and managed to produce an album that challenges the best of their back catalogue. Goldfrapp’s first album, 'Felt Mountain', hinted at folk influences but remained mostly ambient and electronic. With 'Seventh Tree', however, the duo fully explore the acoustic guitar riffs, gentle sweeping lyrics and quirky keyboard tunes typical of indie folk. Alison Goldfrapp has always been known for breathy soft vocals but with this album she allows her voice to melt into the music, written by herself and Will Gregory. 'Little Bird' captures this shift in vocal style, Gregory providing a backdrop of organ style keyboard and strings while Goldfrapp delivers abstract vocals. The band has been linked to London based trio the Shortwave Set, who contributed to Goldfrapp's remixes collection, 'We Are Glitter' of 2006. This song introduces the Shortwave Set as a strong influence on Goldfrapp's new sound and this continues into the next track, second single Happiness. 'Eat Yourself' is a highlight of the album and sounds a little like a Vashti Bunyan track. It is very subtle but still stands out before leading into 'Some People', which again captures the warm glow of the album. 'A&E' entered the UK charts at number 10 and is still a favourite from the album despite a lot of airplay. It sets the tone of the album nicely and fans of the single wont be disappointed with the rest of the record.