Goldfrapp were
Despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize,
Their fourth album Seventh Tree placed a greater emphasis on ambient and downtempo music,
The duo has been on indefinite hiatus since 2022.
History
1999: Formation
Alison Goldfrapp began her musical career performing with Dance Company Catherine Massin throughout the Netherlands during her early twenties. Afterwards, she attended Middlesex University, where she studied fine art and started creating live performance pieces. In the early 1990s, Goldfrapp served as a guest vocalist with the electronic band Orbital and
trip hop artist Tricky.
In 1999, she was introduced to composer
Will Gregory after he listened to an early version of the song "Human". Gregory and Goldfrapp felt a mutual connection and wrote the track "
Lovely Head". Following several months of phone calls, they decided to form a band and began performing under the name Goldfrapp.
In August 1999, Goldfrapp signed a recording contract with London-based record label Mute Records.
2000–2002: Felt Mountain
Goldfrapp's début album
Felt Mountain was released in September 2000 and produced the singles "
Lovely Head", "Utopia", "Pilots (On a Star)" and "Human". It featured Alison Goldfrapp's vocals over cinematic
and is influenced by a variety of music styles including
cabaret,
folk music and
electronic music.
The album was well received by music critics,
including
Pitchfork Media who described its sound as "simultaneously smarmy and seductive, yet elegant and graceful".
It reached number 57 on the UK Albums Chart,
[Peak chart positions for albums and singles in the UK:
] and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry.
In 2001,
Felt Mountain was shortlisted for the
Mercury Prize, an annual music prize awarded for the best British or Irish album from the previous year.
The lyrics on Felt Mountain were written by Alison Goldfrapp and are abstract obsessional tales inspired by films and her childhood. The song "Oompa Radar" was inspired by Roman Polanski's film Cul-de-sac, while "Pilots" describes travellers floating in the atmosphere above the earth.
To promote Felt Mountain, Goldfrapp toured the U.K., Europe and North America, supporting the Alternative rock bands Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Doves. The band found it difficult to perform songs from the album live because of their complex arrangements which required up to forty musicians. They eventually settled on performing with Davide Rossi, drummer Rowan Oliver and Musical keyboard Andy Davies.
2003–2004: Black Cherry
Goldfrapp's second album
Black Cherry was released in April 2003. The band recorded the album in a darkened studio in Bath, England. The album focused more heavily on
dance music and
glam rock-inspired
synthesizer than its predecessor.
Alison Goldfrapp commented that the album differed from
Felt Mountain because the band "felt that we really didn't want to repeat what we had done...we kind of wanted to do something that felt equally as fresh to us as the first one felt fresh to us, and we wanted to put more kind of "oomph" in it."
The album received positive reviews from critics.
found it to be an "unexpected delight" and About.com called it a "rare electronica album of warmth and depth...the ultimate chillout pleasure".
peaked at number 19 on the UK Albums Chart and number four on the
Billboard Top Electronic Albums chart in the United States.
It sold well, reaching platinum status in the UK and selling 52,000 copies in the U.S. as of August 2006.
The first single released from the album was "Train", which reached number 23 on the UK Singles Chart.
In 2003, Alison Goldfrapp modified her image, from a sophisticated Marlene Dietrich inspired look to that of a new wave diva.
2005–2006: Supernature
Supernature, Goldfrapp's third album, was released in August 2005. The album comprises pop and electronic dance music prominently featured on
Black Cherry,
but focuses more on subtle hooks instead of the large choruses that made up its predecessor.
The band never intended to create dance music, however, previous releases were popular across nightclubs in North America and as a result,
they decided to write a more dance-oriented album.
débuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and was certified platinum in the UK.
As of February 2008, it had sold one million copies worldwide.
The album received a
Grammy Award nomination in 2007 for Best Electronic/Dance Album and "Ooh La La" was nominated for Best Dance Recording.
The song was used for the iPhone 5S's commercial in 2013.
"Ooh La La", the album's lead single, became Goldfrapp's first UK top five single.
In 2006, Goldfrapp released We Are Glitter, a North American-only compilation of from Supernature. It included a Flaming Lips remix of "Satin Chic", the band's favourite song from the album.
2006–2008: Seventh Tree
Goldfrapp began writing and recording their fourth album,
Seventh Tree, at the end of 2006 in Bath, England; released in February 2008, it débuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart.
The album is a departure from the pop and electronic-dance music featured on
Supernature, and features ambient and
downtempo music.
The band were inspired by an
Acoustic music radio session they had performed, which led the duo to incorporate acoustic guitars into their music to create "warm" and "delicate" sounds.
The album's lead single, "A&E", reached number ten in the UK.
In 2008, Alison Goldfrapp took inspiration from the character of Pierrot and English Folk. The artwork for Seventh Tree featured her dressed as a clown because it is an "iconic image" with "so many different connotations".
2009–2012: Head First and The Singles
Goldfrapp's fifth album,
Head First, was released in March 2010. Recorded over a six-month period, it was a return to the dance oriented sound on previous albums.
The album took inspiration from 1980s pop music and bands such as
Van Halen and The Pointer Sisters.
Alison Goldfrapp described its sound as "optimistic and vibrant."
The album received positive reviews from critics, with Allmusic describing it as "a love letter to the frothy, fleeting, but very vital joys of pop music."
peaked at number six on the UK Albums Chart and number 45 on the US
Billboard 200.
The album earned Goldfrapp a Grammy Award nomination in 2011 for Best Electronic/Dance Album and "Rocket" was nominated for Best Dance Recording.
The album's first single was "Rocket", a song about an unfaithful lover. Musically, The Times and Spin have compared the song to "Jump" by American Rock music band Van Halen.
In February 2012, Goldfrapp released the compilation album The Singles. The album contained previously released material as well as two newly recorded songs.
2013–2014: Tales of Us
In mid-June, Goldfrapp announced their forthcoming sixth album,
Tales of Us, to be released 9 September 2013. The album features ten tracks. All the track titles, with the exception of "Stranger", are given people's names. Goldfrapp confirmed via Twitter that the sound of the album focuses on their softer sounds similar to that of their début piece
Felt Mountain as well as their 2008 release
Seventh Tree. Accompanying this announcement was the re-launch of the duo's website which features a trailer video directed by
Lisa Gunning with the first dates announced for their Tales of Us Tour. "Drew", the first single from the album, was released on 2 September 2013 with an accompanying film directed by Gunning, the first of five films subsequently released to promote the album. Preceding the album's release, Goldfrapp performed the album in its entirety with a 24-piece orchestra and choir over two nights at the Manchester International Festival.
Tales of Us was nominally successful upon release, charting in the top 20 in over 15 countries. In March 2014, the Tales of Us worldwide cinema event took place, featuring the full Tales of Us film and a live performance from Air Studios in London. Further singles from the album included "Annabel" and "Stranger".
2015–2018: Silver Eye
In July 2015, Alison Goldfrapp announced on Twitter that the group had returned to the studio to work on music for the forthcoming seventh album, but as far as a release date she could only state it would be "sometime in 2017".
in December 2016 Goldfrapp posted on their
Instagram page the covers of their first six studio albums. On 23 December 2016 Goldfrapp posted an image of two topless figures holding each other's heads, with bleached blonde hair covering their faces, and a black substance slicked across their forearms, along with the hashtag #goldfrapp7. The social media upload was initially assumed to be the seventh album's cover art.
This turned out not to be the case. The title of the album was confirmed as
Silver Eye. The first track to be played from the album, titled "Anymore", was premiered on
Lauren Laverne's BBC 6 Music show on 23 January 2017.
was eventually released on 31 March 2017.
Silver Eye: Deluxe Edition was released on 6 July 2018. This was the original
Silver Eye album with an additional eight remixes, including a collaboration with
Dave Gahan of
Depeche Mode on the track "Ocean".
2019–present: Felt Mountain: The 20th Year Tour and hiatus
In November 2019, a run of six concert dates was announced for 2020 by Alison Goldfrapp on the group's official website, in celebration of the approaching 20th anniversary of the release of the group's debut album
Felt Mountain. Goldfrapp commented that the album "represents a very special period in my life. It is the first album Will and I recorded as Goldfrapp, launching us in a new musical direction, and the moment for me, after 13 years or so in music, that I found a creative direction that I was truly excited about. Being nominated for a Mercury Prize was incredible and unexpected, and an affirmation that were embarking on an important journey."
Initially scheduled to begin on 25 March 2020 at Manchester's Albert Hall and conclude on 1 April at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, the tour was pushed back to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The rescheduled tour began at Oxford's O2 Academy on 31 March 2022 and ended at the Royal Festival Hall in London on 15 April.
In September 2021, Goldfrapp were awarded the Ivor Novello inspiration award, which celebrates "peer recognition for the excellence of Goldfrapp songwriting catalogue and in particular how it has inspired the creative talent of other creators".
Since 2022, the group has remained on an indefinite hiatus, with both Goldfrapp and Gregory embarking on solo projects. Regarding the group's future, Alison Goldfrapp has stated "never say never" to a reunion and that "we've had a pretty good stint together, ... Will has always had other projects in between, going off and doing his thing, and I've always wanted to do my thing for a long time. Everything is great, it's all good between us, ... but neither of us has plans to make any new music together."
Musical style
Although Goldfrapp's musical style has changed over time, they are considered to be an
electronic music act.
Goldfrapp has explored a range of musical styles in their songs, although many songs are characterised by Alison Goldfrapp's distinctive breathy, soft
soprano vocals and Will Gregory's multi-layered synthesiser / string arrangements.
described Goldfrapp's voice as "a cross between
Kylie Minogue and
PJ Harvey, between
Siouxsie Sioux, between
Rachel Stevens and
Beth Gibbons".
Album style and genre progression
The band's sound has progressed from electronic in
Felt Mountain, through
synth-pop in
Black Cherry to a more
glam rock-influenced sound in
Supernature,
and to a blend of
Ambient music,
Folk music, and electronic sounds in
Seventh Tree and a 1980s
synth-pop influence in
Head First.
However, they have experimented with other genres of music, such as
cabaret ("Cologne Cerrone Houdini", "Human", "Oompa Radar"),
("Utopia" and "Pilots"),
("A&E"),
and
trip hop ("Little Bird" and "
Lovely Head").
Musical, cinematic, and other inspiration
Alison Goldfrapp listened to
Kate Bush, Prince, T. Rex,
Donna Summer, and
The Stooges as a teenager.
In the early 1990s, while working in Belgium and travelling Europe, she discovered
Serge Gainsbourg, 1970s Polish disco music, and Weimar cabaret. Gregory's musical background was in
classical music and he has cited
Ennio Morricone as his main influence.
Other media, including film, have influenced Goldfrapp; Alison Goldfrapp cites
Roman Polanski's psychological thriller
Cul-de-sac and the
cult film The Wicker Man as influences.
They also draw inspiration from
surrealism and nature, both of which are reflected in the band's album artwork, which Goldfrapp designs in collaboration with Big Active.
Collaboration and composition technique
All the band's songs are composed jointly by Goldfrapp and Gregory, although they have collaborated with Nick Batt on several tracks.
They have called their writing relationship a "democracy", playing off one another while in the recording studio.
While writing, Goldfrapp uses her vocals to create melodies and drumbeats.
Gregory composes on vintage keyboards.
The band believe that "music is a visual experience" and often visualise their songs before writing them.
Discography
See also
-
List of ambient music artists
-
List of awards and nominations received by Goldfrapp
External links
-
-
Goldfrapp statistics, tagging and previews at Last.FM
