During the 00s few pop acts were as quietly influential as Goldfrapp. Their second album (2003’s Black Cherry) rode the coat-tails of the much-maligned electroclash scene, introducing a blueprint for post-millennial electropop that was so intriguing and engaging that Goldfrapp find themselves in 2010 playing catch-up.
Little Boots, Florence, even Lady Gaga all owe something of their art to Alison and Will’s pervy personality-driven brand of glistening electroglam. When the electrobeast Black Cherry followed the mellow, dinner-party-friendly Felt Mountain out of the paddock it was enough to make anyone who’d been paying the blindest bit of attention to Goldfrapp do a double-take. After the consolidation of Supernature, Seventh Tree was another unexpected departure – this time into folk-rock, and was such a success on its own terms that it remains the best thing Goldfrapp have done.
The involvement of Richard X and Pascal Gabriel on Head First suggests an attempt to bolster Goldfrapp’s pop standing, but there’s something slightly fuzzy about this album; it’s like listening to disco music while under the numbing influence of valium. Where previous Goldfrapp dance touchstones felt upfront and in your face – punching, kicking, grabbing you by the collar and demanding your attention, on Head First even the uptempo tracks are left to float. The result is that Head First doesn’t feel as immediately ace as previous Goldfrapp albums and in many ways it seems like a retreat. Dreaming is beautifully hazy without going anywhere, Believer revisits the early Mute sound (conjuring the image of a leather-clad Vince Clarke on Cheggars Plays Pop circa 1982) and both Alive and the title track are reminiscent of ELO and ABBA; indeed the latter sounds like it could turn into I Have A Dream at any point. Lead single Rocket is a glossy and confident pop single – the equal of Ooh La La or Strict Machine. Only Shiny and Warm feels like an outright misfire, while closer Voicething sounds just like Steve Reich’s Music For 18 Musicians – out of step with the the rest of the album but not especially unpleasant. With nine tracks clocking in at less than forty minutes Head First doesn’t feel very substantial, and that’s disappointing, but they’ve been setting the agenda for so long they’ve earned the rest.
Words: Ciaran Gaynor
