8 out of 10Best Track – “Caravan Girl”
Worst Track – “Eat Yourself”
British electro-pop duo Goldfrapp have cut out all the glitz and glam that marked their previous release Supernature and gave us a stripped-down album in Seventh Tree. Instead of focusing on thumping beats and downright dirty lyrics, Goldfrapp puts on an air of sensuality and ambient techno with a warm loving feel.
Any person used to listening to Goldfrapp would be forgiven for thinking they were listening to the wrong band. Seventh Tree opens with the ambient acoustic “Clowns.” Singer Allison Goldfrapp channels her voice into a warm love song reminiscent of Janis Ian or even Joni Mitchell.
Despite the astounding the beauty of the vocals, the album lists and drones its way through a snooze-inducing trail of orchestral ambience. Every track has the same slow groove and the same listing string arrangements. It’s beautiful in an austere sense, but it gets redundant with “Eat Yourself” being the main culprit.
The songs pick up in tempo by the end of the album with lead single “A&E” giving a spectacular respite from the overbearing drone of the album. The true gem on the back part of the album is “Caravan Girl,” which blends the best parts of Fleetwood Mac with the dream pop of Annie Lennox.
That said there are no truly bad songs on the album. Seventh Tree drags at points, but most of the time it’s forgivable. Instead of being party time music, Goldfrapp switched gears and gave you the perfect comedown to the party rush in Seventh Tree.
--Garrett Lyons
No comments:
Post a Comment