goldfrapp: seventh tree

There comes a time in every showgirl’s life when the thought of hanging up the sequins, dismantling the killer heels and consigning the nipple tassles to the bottom drawer of the bedside cabinet becomes an attractive reality. Having progressed from Felt Mountain’s midwinter night’s dream of a freshly post-virginal, fragile infatuation to Supernature’s hypersexual glam-rock stomp, via Black Cherry’s kinky allusions and overt flirtations, Seventh Tree finds the duo of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory not so much edging away from the adventurous lust of their last two albums as turning their back on it completely. It’s still very much a Goldfrapp record but this isn’t Felt Mountain part II either; there’s nothing so innocent about Seventh Tree.

Where the cultish ‘Happiness’ might at first suggest that Goldfrapp are embracing the possibility of real love, it soon becomes apparent that something more sinister is at work: “we can see your troubled soul / give us all your money / we’ll make it better”. Intoned in a voice like Alison’s, you can perhaps see how people might fall for such expensive charades. Then there’s the poppy, almost pastoral first single ‘A&E’; rarely has a song seemingly about attempted suicide sounded so pleasant. And it’s not the only time she sounds as close to dying for love as she once did to orgasm.

And yet, the music is defiantly sunny. To pilfer from Tom Waits for a moment, when things are pretty lousy for a calendar girl, hitting the road is an ideal cure. Coincidentally, the wanderlust-filled ‘Caravan Girl’ is as close as Seventh Tree gets to moving your feet. Except the party’s been relocated from a sleazy disco to a starlit desert somewhere. It’s organic. It’s a little bit hippy. It suits them. Elsewhere, the laidback vesperal feel continues. The self-sacrificial ‘Monster Love’ is lyrically maudlin but otherwise twinkles and elegantly swells with uplift, while ‘Little Bird’ is typically Goldfrapp in its conjuring of a summery, magical wonderland that culminates in a relative clatter.

With the likes of Kylie and Madonna jumping on the ‘frappian electro-glam bandwagon, Alison and Will have wisely hauled their anchor and sailed swiftly away before the inevitable call from Timbaland came through. Seventh Tree will no doubt appall those who sicken at any hint of a genuine emotion, but to those who can handle such things it never seems banal or uninspired. These largely acoustic, mysterious songs glow with the promise of repeated listens. Intuition tells me this is definitely a four-star record, and indeed it could be but for the extraordinary Jordan-baiting opening line: “only clowns would play with those balloons / what d’ya wanna look like Barbie for?”

That’s easily worth another point. Now guess how big my boobs are.

[Mute; February 25, 2008]

Written by: Eva Weppelmann

Tags: goldfrapp, seventh tree

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