Home > Los Angeles Music > CD Review > Goldfrapp, 'Seventh Tree'

Backstory: Singer Alison Goldfrapp and producer/multi-instrumentalist Will Gregory arrived in 2000 as a downtempo electronica duo in the vein of Lamb or Portishead, then spent their next two albums dirtying up their synths and sexing up Alison’s image on their way to global pop domination. After a string of massive dance club hits like “Strict Machine” and “Ooh La La,” they’ve finally returned to some of the more pastoral roots they showed on their luminous debut, “Felt Mountain.”

Why you should care: Alison Goldfrapp has one of the purest and prettiest voices in pop music, and as a duo, Goldfrapp’s knack for irresistible melodic hooks has grown keener with each album.

Verdict: As much fun as the panting disco anthems were on Goldfrapp’s last two albums, it’s nice to hear Alison take off the glitter eyeliner and sing like a real person. “Some People” and “A&E” are the most direct and intimate songs of Goldfrapp’s career, buoyed by rich production that’s heavy on acoustic guitars, live strings and other instruments played by actual humans. Not that the duo has abandoned its perverse tendencies entirely; on opening song “Clowns,” Alison purrs nonsensically salacious lyrics like, “Titties that live on on and on on.” Don’t worry about what it means; just enjoy the gorgeous interplay of her voice and those swooning strings.

X-Factor: Among the various instruments Goldfrapp experimented with on “Seventh Tree” to expand its sound: a seventeenth century harp on “Road to Somewhere” and an old Mattel toy called an Optigon on “Eat Yourself.” “It’s a toy, but [also] a very sophisticated organ that runs on these tiny little optical discs,” Gregory explains in the duo’s press release. “In this case it was a lovely, folky guitar pick, but it completely wobbles because it was made in the ‘60s and very much degraded.”

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