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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.
lp/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)
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