| 
album // Head First
Head First finds the duo of
Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory
abandoning not only the hippy etherialism of last album Seventh
Tree but also the confrontational, over-sexed electronica -
in the vein of, say, Peaches and Client
- in favour of a pure pop sound. At first you'd think that this
is intended to permit Goldfrapp to drop neatly
into the current trend for female-fronted synth pop acts a la
La Roux, Little Boots, who are
intent on sweeping up the vast electronica vistas of the Eighties
and claiming them as their own; but this is released on Mute,
which has been producing quality, credible and enduring electronic
music since before the Eighties were even born. Specifically, I'd
suggest the influence of Vince Clarke during his
late Eighties analogue renaissance would be a principal marker for
the noises offered up on Head First.
This is synth pop at its shimmering,
shiniest best. I've not listened to an electronic pop record for
many years (probably since Erasure's last) that's
had me so captivated from the opening seconds. In Head First's
case, that opener is the sublime first single 'Rocket' and is quickly
followed by 'Believer', which starts with minimal pulsing beats
before snapping into a huge sing-along chorus the likes of which
Goldfrapp seem set on nurturing across most of Head First.
The second single, 'Alive' is a ballsy,
disco-y track (in the vein of, say, Stock Aitken and Waterman's
take on the genre with Big Fun perhaps) which neatly
encapsulates the vibe of Scissor Sisters. 'Dreaming'
is probably my personal favourite song here - beginning with pulsing
synths and breathy words that I can barely decipher, it's the pleasantly
uplifting chorus which provides the core emotional hook of the track.
Title track 'Head First' sounded to me like an Abba
cover with its simple piano lines and grandeur-filled bridge, and
I wasn't surprised to see journalists reviewing the album citing
the same similarity. It's a beautiful love song that the Andersson-Ulvaeus
could feasibly claim as being descended from one of their own.
'Hunt' is less pop and more like something
that the Goldfrapp / Gregory duo may have delivered up on Felt
Mountain. The electronics sound submerged and minimal and Goldfrapp's
vocal reminds of how broad her sonic range can be. 'Hunt' shares
some similarities with the only dip across the whole album, closing
track 'Voice Thing', which, as its name suggests features Goldfrapp's
voice (wordlessly singing as she did on the Orbital
records from years gone by) as a textural instrument. It's clever,
certainly, but a bit low-key compared to the rest of the album.
'Shiny And Warm' - a fast-paced and fairly minimal piece - is a
song I'm not especially keen on, but it's growing on me gradually.
'I Wanna Life', however, with a few more Abba overtones and a massive
dose of Fame-esque optimistic cheeriness is much better.
Overall, this is a brilliant album,
setting the duo off on an exciting new course. A couple of below
par tracks aside, this really is essential listening for anyone
looking for authentic electronic pop music from this consistently
inventive pairing.
A cassette version of Head
First was released by Mute for Record Store Day 2010.
lp/c/cd/i:
1. Rocket
2. Believer
3. Alive
4. Dreaming
5. Head First
6. Hunt
7. Shiny And Warm
8. I Wanna Life
9. Voicething
single // Rocket
I only recently got around to purchasing Seventh
Tree by Goldfrapp, the 2007 predecessor to
Head First, whose first single is 'Rocket'. I'd read about
Seventh Tree at the time and a combination of hearing that
it was a radical, folksy departure from the earlier Supernature
and Black Cherry albums, plus a general weariness in this
Documentary Evidence project meant that I never
bothered getting around to it. Had I not bought it, I wouldn't have
seen that much of a progression between Supernature and
'Rocket'; now I have, I can hear that this is very much a return
to the electronic form after a spell in the mystic wilderness of
Seventh Tree.
'Rocket' in many ways is a perfect pop song –
upbeat, catchy singalong chorus and very much the sound of now,
if by 'now' you mean Eighties-referencing synthpop. In the case
of 'Rocket', Alison Goldfrapp and Will
Gregory that means fusing some very Van Halen 'Jump' keyboards
with a thudding high-energy beat and a fey, girly vocal. The chorus
of 'Oooh I've got a rocket / You're gonna ride it' could
well be a euphemism, but it could equally be a pop throwaway.
In practice, this track could have been given to
any one of the current crop of hit-craving female pop stars, and
even a comparatively elder stateswoman like Kylie would have given
it a decent run for its money; mercifully, Goldfrapp don't write
for anyone else.
Four high-quality remixes back the single version,
all mining variations on a club-friendly high-energy edge. The best
of the crop comes from Richard X, whose version
is so like recent Vince Clarke mixes - even including
the computer-spoken 'rocket' sample that appeared on Erasure's
'Brother And Sister' and 'Paradise' - that I had to check it wasn't
the Erasure man operating in disguise.
cd/xli:
1. Rocket
2. Rocket (Tiesto Remix)
3. Rocket (Richard X Eight Four Remix)
4. Rocket (Penguin Prison Remix)
5. Rocket (Grum Remix)
single // Alive
'Alive' is brassy pop of the highest order, serving
to highlight the duo's transition from slightly left-of-centre /
alternative leanings to style that breezily embraces mainstream
pop. An upbeat track, sounds range from disco-y bass and the kind
of simple and effective keyboard hook on the chorus that Stock Aitken
and Waterman would have crawled over a dozen ex-Neighbours
stars to have written.
The album version is complemented by five remixes,
by Joakim, Tensnake, Dave
Audé and Arno Cost. Joakim turns
in two versions, both of which stalk disco reference points with
some galloping clipped guitar that would have made Studio 54's punters
pout and preen; the dub includes some mad, wonky keyboard riffs
that feel nauseating after a while. Meanwhile Tensnake offer up
a version which takes you back to another Stateside sensation, the
explosion of dance music in Chicago and Detroit in the late Eighties.
The beats here are so authentic that you begin to wonder if they
weren't just sampled from an original Trax 12".
Dave Audé's mix has inchoate synths which
ape the 'dugga-dugga-dugga' rhythm of Wire's 'Drill'
which neatly modulate and filter throughout the track. It's probably
my favourite one of the pack, just the right side of the dancefloor
by keeping the vocal but eschewing some of the more overtly pop
elements. Arno Cost's eight minute epic starts with some Plastikman-esque
minimalism and synth washes before slowly expanding out into a absorbing
trance-y mix which reminds me mostly of losing it to BT and other
Perfecto acts being spun at my university's sweaty basement club.
Ah, halcyon days.
7":
A. Alive
B. Alive (Joakim Remix Edit)
li:
1. Alive
2. Alive (Joakim Remix)
3. Alive (Joakim NRG Dub)
4. Alive (Tensnake Remix)
5. Alive (David Audé Remix)
6. Alive (Arno Cost Remix)
single // Believer
'Believer' was one of the strongest songs on Goldfrapp's
unfeasibly strong Head First album; it's a delicate song
whose verses seem to continually make the rush of the gently uplifting
chorus a surprise. Admittedly something of a Goldfrapp trademark
- and one that's exploited time after time on Head First
- 'Believer' is built on fragile, pulsing synths that reaches a
buzzing crescendo with every chorus.
Remixes come from Joris Voorn,
Erasure's Vince Clarke and Subway.
Voorn's mix replaces Alison Goldfrapp's singing
with wordless clipped vocal samples, straps on a funk bass and a
clockwork rhythm that widens out into something that reminds me
wistfully of nights spent dancing to The Bucketheads classic 'The
Bomb'.
Vince Clarke continues a recent exploration into
minimal techno idioms with his sparse mix, which is characterised
by tiny bursts of sound and lots of space, plus some trademark loud
synths on the chorus. Quite when Vince discovered that he could
produce such dancefloor-friendly fare is a mystery - around the
time of Cowboy he was found to be outsourcing beats programming
to Neil McLellan.
Subway's mix is lush and deep, full of rushing sounds
and loud bass tones, representing in many ways the counterpoint
to Vince's minimalist approach. The single also includes a reinterpretation
by Davide Rossi, who produces a beautiful orchestral version of
the track. Alison's vocal, seemingly so suited for hi-NRG electronic
pop, here makes just as much sense, proving that she's just as capable
as ever of working across genre.
A free download remix of 'Believer' by Little
Loud which you can track down from the blogosphere; the
consistently excellent Little Loud turn in a slow-tempo take on
the single which is totally beguiling.
cd/xli:
1. Believer
2. Believer (Joris Voorn Remix)
3. Believer (Vince Clarke Remix)
4. Believer (Subway Remix)
5. Believer (Davide Rossi Reinterpretation)
|
