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album // Seventh Tree
To brand Goldfrapp's Seventh Tree as something of a departure after the over-sexed electro-glam pop of Black Cherry and Supernature would be a huge understatement. Even Felt Mountain, the duo of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory's frozen debut album, provides few clues to Seventh Tree's psychedelia. Gone are the urgent, thrusting beats and confrontational innuendo and in comes an album that takes some of the emotional sound design of Felt Mountain, only here positioned in what veers from folk through to Beatles-y strangeness. Seventh Tree was produced by Goldfrapp and Flood, and supported by three singles – 'A&E', 'Happiness' and 'Caravan Girl' – all of which are the most overtly stand-out pop tracks on this album. The cast list for the album is massive, and far too full to repeat here, but in addition to the choirs, harpists and multiple guitarists, Nick 'Son Of Womble' Batt helped with some drum programming and Alexander Balanescu's violin wends its way through many of the tracks here.
Flood as a producer has presided over some of Mute's best albums over the years, not least of which is his work with Daniel Miller on Depeche Mode's Violator, though at times his production style is sometimes criticised. His production of Erasure's Loveboat is one example. Loveboat is an album that I personally love but which fans think was swamped by unsympathetic work at the mixing desk. Whatever your views on Flood, Seventh Tree's organic feel definitely benefits from his partnership with the talented Will Gregory, whose work for the BBC, in the form of his opera Piccard In Space and his soundtrack to the nature series Earthflight, both show how sonically adventurous and diverse this reclusive individual is; both commissions saw Gregory blending analogue synthesizers with classical instrumentation, a combination which is used throughout Seventh Tree. One of the most obviously Flood-produced pieces is 'Eat Yourself', which starts off sounding like a sampled 78rpm record, all hiss and narrow vocals from yesteryear. The effect is not dissimilar Flood's production of Erasure's 'Mad As We Are' from Loveboat, a similar folksy rhythm creeping in while a high-register Alison, and what could be a harpsichord, usher in emotional strings and those retro synth tones.
While it doesn't have the upbeat, glam vibe of tracks from the duo's second two albums, 'Road To Somewhere' is perhaps the closest to the sensual core that was found at the centre of Black Cherry and Supernature, finding Alison's vocal taking on a sultry, soulfully purring edge on the choruses; at the same time it sees Goldfrapp moving ever onward. Amid the hollow synths, world-weary vocals emerge behind spatial analogue whooshes, sparse guitar and sensitive beats, creating an impression that in other hands it could have been an R&B track. Only here all the R&B elements are removed, leaving a polite, atmospheric pop in its place. 'Listen to the radio like a friend that guides me,' is one of the most poignant lyrics here.
The more I listen to Seventh Tree, the more I think of this album as being Goldfrapp's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Notwithstanding the Sixties power pop and loved-up vocals of single 'Happiness', that psychedelic atmosphere emerges most clearly on 'Little Bird', wherein Alison sings a lysergic, dreamy set of lyrics which feel like they belong in the Yellow Submarine camp of weird pop. 'Now we are free,' runs one dreamy lyric, evoking a spiritual (or possibly chemical) ascension. The absorbing conclusion of the track is all outer-space synths, echoing vocals and shuffling, reverb-soaked drums. The album's obligatory ballad comes in the form of 'Some People' which is filled with the towering vocal style from Alison that can reduce you to a tearful mess with repeated listens, her voice anchored by dramatic strings and sprinkles of stately piano
Elsewhere, Seventh Tree delivers some excellent, if fundamentally strange, pop. 'Cologne Cerrone Houdini' features mellow bass (including some from Adrian 'Portishead' Utley), Seventies soul strings, a vaguely hip-hop beat, and dark synth swells; it feels like a Barry White track mashed up with Felt Mountain strangeness. At times Alison's vocal takes on a lumpen Nico-esque quality, especially on the line 'Sunlight in your eyes,' which is delivered with the departed German Warhol muse's same effortless detachment. The album's closer, 'Monster Love' meanwhile is a slowly-building track that makes the hairs on your neck stand on end, providing a powerfully emotional conclusion to the album, containing multiple layers and layers of synth melodies and sounds. 'Here is where we start and where we end,' sounds innocent enough and is sung in a sweetly affecting way, but it evokes the circularity of existence and that can be pretty depressing.
Seventh Tree was a brave, and possibly necessary move by Goldfrapp and Gregory; having been typecast as a retro electronic glam-pop duo on their preceding two albums, Seventh Tree proved that this enduring pairing are much more than that, much more talented in many ways. The album feels somehow more 'mature' than Black Cherry or Supernature, and while it may lack those album's obvious, over-the-top pop charms, Seventh Tree has a delicate, relaxed quality that continues to satisfy with each listen.
lp/cd/cd:
1. Clowns
2. Little Bird
3. Happiness
4. Road To Somewhere
5. Eat Yourself
6. Some People
7. A&E
8. Cologne Cerrone Houdini
9. Caravan Girl
10. Monster Love
dvd:
1. A Short Film
2. A&E
single // A&E
Review forthcoming.
7":
A. A&E
B. A&E (Maps Instrumental Mix)
cd:
1. A&E
2. Clowns (Super 8 Film)
i:
1. A&E
2. A&E (Gui Boratto Remix)
3. A&E (Gui Boratto Dub)
4. A&E (Hercules And Love Affair Remix)
single // Happiness
Review forthcoming.
7":
A. Happiness (Single Version)
B. Happiness (Metronomy Remix)
cd:
1. Happiness (Single Version)
2. Road To Somewhere (Acoustic Version)
lcd:
1. Happiness (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
2. Monster Love (Goldfrapp vs Spiritualized)
3. Eat Yourself (Yeasayer Remix)
i:
1. Happiness (Single Version)
2. Road To Somewhere (Acoustic Version)
3. Monster Love (Goldfrapp vs Spiritualized)
4. Eat Yourself (Yeasayer Remix)
i2:
1. Happiness (Single Version)
2. Happiness (Metronomy Remix)
3. Happiness (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation) (Edit)
4. Happiness (Live, Union Chapel)
single // Caravan Girl
Review forthcoming.
7":
A. Caravan Girl
B. Little Bird (Animal Collective Remix)
cd:
1. Caravan Girl
2. Happiness (Video)
lcd:
1. Caravan Girl (Live Choral Version)
2. Monster Love (Live Acoustic Version)
3. Little Bird (Live, Union Chapel) (Video)
i:
1. Caravan Girl
2. Little Bird (Animal Collective Remix)
3. Caravan Girl (Live Choral Version)
4. Monster Love (Live Acoustic Version)
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