Seventh Tree [Import]

 

 

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I confess, I'm still getting used to the glitzy, glammy sound Goldfrapp had in its last album. Now it has gone to the other extreme -- floaty, instrumental pop.

Fortunately it doesn't take long to get used to this new style, because it fits Goldfrapp like a fine silk glove.The dancy electrobeats are translated into shimmering downtempo, the hard edges softened into acoustics -- it's a floaty, dreamlike, bittersweetly beautiful little album, full of swirlingly addictive instrumentation and wistful vocals.

It opens with the mellow rippling guitar, overlaid with an ethereal fog of sorrowful violins, a touch of synth, clips of birds singing happily. "Only clowns would play with dull balloons," Alison Goldfrapp sings in a girlish slur. It's pretty hard to hear what's she singing ("Roasting, roasting, roast indeed, mahogany"), but the exquisite quality of the music makes up for it.

This is where you know it's all going to work.

And she doesn't disappoint in the songs after, startling with the quivering synth and satiny vocals of "Little Bird" ("We dance by the sea/the land of blue and gold/is where we were free/do you lie, lie lie?") and catchy, sunny "Happiness." And it sets the tone for some of the songs that follow -- exquisitely sensuous pop melodies, odd chorale ballads, dramatic electronica, and the sprightly dancy chamberpop of "Caravan Girl."

The highlight has to be "A&E," a warm fragile little melody spun that ripples with piano and soft keyboard. And as the melody picks up into a swirling instrumental speckled with electronic blips, the tone turns a bit darker. "I was trying to phone you when I'm crawling out the door.... I was feeling lonely, feeling blue/Feeling like I needed you/Like I've woken up surrounded by me/A&E..."

Most bands can't pull off a total change of sound -- they're going to disappoint a lot of, and often the quality of their music suffers because they're simply not used to this style. Fortunately Goldfrapp is not one of those bands -- it's hard to imagine anyone being turned off by the lush, bittersweet sound of this album.

The songs are spun out of a lot of acoustic instruments -- waves of elegant strings and a low-key piano, with some acoustic guitar and jazzy drums to keep the melodies grounded. But they haven't totally abandoned electronica -- there's a trip-hoppy downtempo flavour to these songs, mostly expressed in warm, misty synth that gently wraps around the chamberpop and folky melodies. But you do get some kooky catchy organ again toward the end.

And Alison Goldfrapp sounds like she's having fun. Her flexible, silky voice can become whatever the melody requires of her -- girly slurring, terrifying perkiness ("We're here to welcome you!"), an otherworldly balladeer -- but most of the time she sounds lovelorn and wistful.

And while the music may be more accessible, the songs she sings are flavoured with depression, moments stolen with a lover you'll never really have, and even drug overdoses ("It's a blue, bright blue Saturday, hey hey/And the pain has started to slip away/I'm in a backless dress on a pastel ward that's shining/Think I want you still/But it may be pills at work").

Goldfrapp have really outdone themselves in the shimmering, exquisite "Seventh Tree," a sharp deviation from their previous music. Utterly spellbinding from beginning to end.

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