REMIXES
Although each of their first three albums brought them a greater degree of success here and throughout Europe than their predecessor did, the US was late to the party. Supernature stalled at No.138 there and Goldfrapp adopted the Moby method of licensing their songs to TV ads and programmes in order to get them heard.
FELT MOUNTAIN STALLED AT NO.57 IN THE UK, A DISAPPOINTING POSITION FOR AN ALBUM OF SUCH QUALITY
Thanks to big name DJs and producers remixing their tracks and including them in their sets, the US club scene was where they first gained traction, with Supernature‘s singles faring well in the dance charts.
For an album so deeply entrenched in the past, Goldfrapp’s debut still sounds fresh and innovative more than two decades after its release.
2006’s We Are Glitter (originally a US-only release but now widely available on various streaming services) capitalises on their status as an underground niche act by handing over the Supernature singles to everyone from Fred Falke to The Flaming Lips to remix.
Taking in classical, leftfield electronica, Brechtian cabaret, folk and 60s pop, Felt Mountain is an ambitious piece of work, a feat made even more remarkable by the fact that Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory were still virtual strangers when they began recording it in the autumn of 1999.
The album is a mixed bag with the results either staying faithful to the originals or completely stripping the songs back and recreating them into different entities altogether, the latter proving much more interesting, such is the case with DFA’s Slide In or T.Raumschmiere’s Lovely 2C U.
Alison, who had previously collaborated with Tricky, Orbital and Dreadzone, and Will, who’d worked with Tears For Fears, Portishead and Peter Gabriel, were introduced by a mutual friend after Will heard one of Alison’s early versions of Human and thought her voice would be perfect to sing on a score he was working on. That project didn’t come to fruition, but the pair realised that they shared similar musical tastes and developed a working relationship by sending each other tapes of songs they were into and began writing together.
Ultimately, though, it is a bonus track, Goldfrapp’s own We Are Glitter remix of Strict Machine that emerges as the glittering jewel of the collection – the takeaway from this set being that no one does Goldfrapp as well as Alison and Will themselves.
A deal with Mute Records was signed in September 1999 and the duo rented a secluded bungalow nestled deep in the Wiltshire countryside where they immersed themselves for six months to create their debut LP.
WE ARE GLITTER
The decision paid off with the countryside permeating the feel of the music – the lush and sumptuous soundscapes conjuring up imagery of dewy meadows and misty woodlands, wildlife and snowy drifts, all enhanced by Alison’s astonishing vocals, which veer effortlessly from hushed sensuality (Paper Bag) to operatic grandeur (Utopia), with a hint of whistling and even yodelling.
Released 2006
Album opener Lovely Head creates the ambience, with its distinctive lonesome whistle hook and gentle shuffling drum beat luring the listener into a seductive, cinematic experience that transports us from the pastoral baroque of Paper Bag to the sinister, mambo-esque Human and soaring Pilots, both of which evoke John Barry’s best Bond themes, while the sparse Deer Stop and Horse Tears are piano-based songs with distorted vocals resulting in an eerie, haunting atmosphere. The glorious opera-meets-electronica of Utopia is transcendent.