Good? Or just TOO damned good? That is the question. Natsha House anticipates the arrival of new album ‘Black Cherry’ in April with a bitter-sweet trip to Northampton’s Roadmender.
06/03/2003
It must be hard being responsible for one song which becomes the staple of every ‘chill out’ album on every coffee table in every land. With hit single ‘Utopia’ Goldfrapp achieved the kind of social resonance which is nothing short of remarkable for purveyors of abstract, operatic electronica. Follow-up ‘Black Cherry’, due for release on April 28, will set Goldfrapp up at the centre of another cultural zeitgeist.
Immaculately dressed in the height of fashion, Alison Goldfrapp is a wonder from the sole of her silver wedges to the halo atop her frizzy hair. Disco influences rule her world and along with her bizarrely dressed band mates we all start to feel ashamed at our shabby, Tuesday-night turnout wishing we had donned stilettos and shades in preparation for sparkling synths and gut-wrenching bass lines.
Yes, she really can reach ear-piercing range when singing live, though she spends the rest of the time simpering and whispering into the microphone to create the lurid, enticing atmosphere of their spectacular new songs. Deep Honey, Tip Toe and Twist were deliciously dirty and dripping with glamour. And album title track Black Cherry reached the emotional intensity of Utopia but with an aggressive edge that should forever banish the word ‘ambience’ from descriptions of the band.
Brilliance all round then. Except that these perfectly executed songs served to impress, rather than excite me. Dozens of middle-aged men might want Alison Goldfrapp’s babies, but the ringleted diva seems to perform for herself alone. She only really seems to be enjoying herself by the second encore, and the otherworldly mystery which makes her so fascinating also makes her untouchable.
Contact between band and fans was minimal and slippery at best and there are no peaks and troughs to Goldfrapp’s emotional intensity. Just an interminable high, at once engaging, after a while just aloof, but undoubtedly excellent.
Natasha House for Crud Magazine 2003©
Relevant sites:
www.goldfrapp.co.uk/
www.roadmender.org/