| Goldfrapp — Tales Of Us (2013) |
Goldfrapp — Tales Of Us
Δ "warm" and "delicate" sounds
Δ In 2009 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree by the University of Portsmouth.
Birth name: Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp
Born: 13 May 1966, Enfield, Middlesex, England
Instruments: Vocals, piano, tambourine, synthesiser
Location: London, England
Album release: September 9th, 2013
Recorded: April 2011 — May 2013, Bath, Somerset. London
Record Label: Mute
Duration: 44:36
Tracks:
01. Jo (4:38)
02. Annabel (4:01)
03. Drew (4:40)
04. Ulla (3:49)
05. Alvar (5:38)
06. Thea (4:50)
07. Simone (4:18)
08. Stranger (4:12)
09. Laurel (4:10)
10. Clay (4:20)
Producer: Alison Goldfrapp, Will Gregory
Members:
— Alison Goldfrapp
— Will Gregory
Δ CD — gatefold card wallet with 20 page booklet
Website: http://goldfrapp.com/
Store: http://goldfrapp.sandbaghq.com/
Tumblr: http://tumblr.goldfrapp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Goldfrapp
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/artist/goldfrapp
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goldfrapp
Mute Records: http://mute.com/goldfrapp/brand-new-album-tales-of-us-out-9-september
Editorial Reviews:
Δ "A sumptuous body of work, Tales Of Us has been two years in the crafting and is their most narrative, cinematic and intimate recording to date. Nothing in their accomplished back catalogue has hinted at the new lyrical breadth that the band have introduced to Tales Of Us. All the songs except for one are named in the first person with a cast list of evocative character sketches, the contrary love affairs, the suspense, hallucinations, fairy tales and modern folklores documented and the traces of redemption they find in song take the poetry of Goldfrapp's delicately considered music somewhere brand new."
In french:
Δ C'est sans doute musicalement et techniquement bien fait, mais j'ai du mal a accrocher... Ca me laisse un peu de marbre...
________________________________________________________________
Goldfrapp Biography
Δ "It's got more of a round feeling, wouldn't you say? Not so spiky." Alison Goldfrapp gazes into the middle-distance and squints - as if to do so would allow her to better describe what she sees when she thinks about Goldfrapp's self-produced fifth album Head First. Sitting next to her, rather earlier in the morning than either would have liked, is her right-hand man Will Gregory. He runs a hand through his hair and fixes his gaze on the same point. If they both seem a little surprised by the album poised before them, it's with good reason. For one thing, Head First took just six months to write and record. Some records, it seems, just unfold in front of you, and your job as the artist is merely to follow the path laid down by them. One song points the way to the next one, which in turn establishes the conditions for the one after that. And so on, and so on.
Δ "Head First is one of those albums," suggests Will. "We've made 'up'-sounding records before," elaborates Alison. "You had things like 'Ooh La La', which were very hands-in-the-air, but there was a softness missing which I think is definitely present on these songs." A vulnerability too, perhaps. Worlds away from the glamtastic sado-pop of albums like Black Cherry and Supernature, it's a vulnerability that announces itself on digitised dawn choruses like ‘Alive’ and ‘Believer’. Portending a chorus of understated digital euphoria, the latter song sees Alison intone, Δ “Without you I would die,” on what she describes as a song “about rediscovering love and believing in it again”.
Δ The vertiginous thrill of new love is also detectable in a title track which divines a vocal of hitherto unsurpassed tenderness from Alison. If the candour of these songs doesn't disarm you, then the manner of their execution will do. The kinetic nocturnal Europop of ‘I Wanna Life’ is a perfect complement to Alison's yearningly insistent vocal – whilst ‘Rocket’ may be the most jubilantly catchy revenge song to ever head up a pop album.
Δ From the startling, Yma Sumac-style falsetto of Felt Mountain's ‘Pilots’ to the Donovan-patented pootling pixie beat of ‘Happiness’ Goldfrapp have long been dab hands at picking out decommissioned sounds from the sonic warehouse space of pop's past and recontextualising them for the way we live today. For instance the cavernous unease of Giorgio Moroder's Cat People (Putting Out Fire) was the starting point for what developed into Head First’s darkest song, ‘Hunt’.
Δ Appropriately for a song whose hypnotic electronic pulse better evokes a tin womb than the West Country recording studio where it was created, ‘Shiny And Warm’ is “about that sense of well-being you get when you’re in a car late at night.” Δ Alison continues, “I had been listening to a lot of Suicide, in particular Cheree and I wanted to tap into that.”
Δ When did Goldfrapp know they were finished? They completed a total of 13 songs altogether, but from the outset Will and Alison told each other that this album would feature nine songs in total. "Obviously," explains Will, "because you can get 74 minutes of music on a CD, you have a tendency in artists not to edit their ideas as rigorously." With eight songs that seemed to cohere as a piece, the final piece of the jigsaw was Head First's ravishing climax. "We wanted to do something that was almost the opposite to everything that had preceded it," explains Alison. And sure enough, ‘Voicething’ sees a choir of Alisons gather, soar, separate and re-converge like birds at sundown, while a slow upsurge of chords fills the remaining space like a thermal current.
Δ Having drawn from a more disparate set of influences than they had done for any of their previous albums, Alison and Will were, perhaps understandably, concerned that Head First might signal too great a departure from what had gone before it. The first person they played it to was Daniel Miller, synth pioneer with The Normal and, of course, the long-serving head of Mute. "He said it simultaneously sounded nothing like our other albums, but unmistakeably us," says Will.
Δ But hasn't it ever been thus with Goldfrapp? Ten years since Felt Mountain announced their arrival to the wider world, they've perfected the art of delivering the album we didn't know we wanted them to make. Head First is no exception. "It's weird, isn't it?" ponders Alison Goldfrapp. "I sometimes think, 'Why can't we make our lives easy and just do the same album over and over again? But the bottom line is that I don't think we could, even if we tried. The whole point is that you're trying to discover sounds, and tell a story about what's going on in your life. You could make more money by finding a formula and sticking to it. But that seems to us to be totally pointless” — (http://www.amazon.com/)
________________________________________________________________
TALES OF US-DELUXE BOX SET-PRE-ORDER
£64.99
Tales of Us
Limited edition 2CD & 1DVD deluxe box set.
Contents:
Δ CD album
Δ Bonus CD with additional exclusive material
Δ 40 page large format hardback book compiled by Goldfrapp
Δ Vinyl album pressed on 180gm vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with 24" poster
Δ DVD 5.1 album version, DTS & Dolby digital*
Δ 12" lithographic art print
Δ Numbered certificate of authenticity
Δ Presentation box will be be white foil blocked
Box set will ship mid November.
An MP3 and 24bit WAV digital copy of the album will be sent to you on September 9th.
*Dolby 5.1
DTS 5.1 @ 96kHz 24bit
Stereo 96kHz 24bit
________________________________________________________________
Δ Goldfrapp release their stunningly beautiful new album ‘Tales Of Us’ through Mute on 9 September 2013. Their sixth album, ‘Tales Of Us’ is written and produced by band members Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory and was recorded at their studio in the English countryside.
Δ A sumptuous body of work, ‘Tales Of Us’ has been two years in the crafting and is their most narrative, cinematic and intimate recording so far. Nothing in their accomplished back catalogue has hinted at the new lyrical breadth that the band have introduced to ‘Tales Of Us’.
Δ All the songs bar one are named in the first person with a cast list of evocative character sketches, the contrary love affairs, the suspense, hallucinations, fairy tales and modern folklores documented and the traces of redemption they find in song take the poetry of Goldfrapp’s delicately considered music somewhere brand new.
Δ With its uniquely cinematic narrative, filmmaker Lisa Gunning is creating a compelling and beautiful film to accompany the album, which will be shown in cinemas later this year.
Δ Goldfrapp kick-start a summer of very special live performances with two shows at the Manchester International Festival on 17 & 18 July when they will be performing ‘Tales Of Us’ live for the very first time, accompanied by the Royal Northern College of Music string orchestra. The band will then be performing at Somerset House on 20 July before going on to headline the Lovebox main stage on Sunday 21 July.
Δ The summer shows are a precursor to a European headline tour in October and November with the following performances:
Δ Mon Oct 21: Amsterdam – Paradiso
Δ Tues Oct 22: Brussels – Ancienne Belgique
Δ Weds Oct 23: Berlin – Heimathafen Neukölln
Δ Fri Oct 25: Paris – Le Trianon Hall
Δ Sat Oct 26: Zurich – Kaufleuten
Δ Fri Nov 1: London – Hammersmith Apollo
Fortaken: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/
________________________________________________________________
— Photo by Will Mellor
Also:
— The Vibes: http://thevibes.me/2013/07/19/goldfrapps-tales-of-us-reviewed/
________________________________________________________________
Discography:
— Felt Mountain (2000)
— Black Cherry (2003)
— Supernature (2005)
— Seventh Tree (2008)
— Head First (2010)
— Tales of Us (2013)
Musical style:
Δ 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 and string arrangements. The band's sound has progressed from an ambient sound in Felt Mountain, through electronic music in Black Cherry to a more glam rock influence in Supernature, and most recently to a blend of ambient, folk and electronic in Seventh Tree and an 1980s synthpop influence in Head First. However, they have experimented with other genres of music, such as cabaret ("Cologne Cerrone Houdini", "Human", "Oompa Radar"), operatic pop ("Utopia" and "Pilots"), folktronica ("A&E") and trip hop ("Little Bird" and "Lovely Head).
Δ Goldfrapp draws inspiration from a range of artists and genres. Alison Goldfrapp listened to Kate Bush, T. Rex, Donna Summer and Iggy Pop and The Stooges as a teenager and discovered Serge Gainsbourg while working in Belgium. While travelling through Europe in the early 1990s, she also began listening to Polish disco music and cabaret music from the Weimar Republic. Will Gregory's musical background was classical music and has cited Ennio Morricone as his main influence. Other media, including film, have had an impact on Goldfrapp; Alison Goldfrapp cites Roman Polanski's psychological thriller Cul-de-sac, the cult film The Wicker Man, and the James Bond franchise as influences. They also draw inspiration from surrealism and nature, all of which appear in the band's album artwork, which Goldfrapp designs in collaboration with Big Active.
Δ The majority of the band's songs are composed by Goldfrapp and Gregory, although they have collaborated with session musician Nick Batt several times. They have called their writing relationship a "democracy", playing off one another while in the recording studio. However, Goldfrapp is responsible for the lyrics. While writing, Goldfrapp uses her vocals to create melodies and drumbeats. Gregory composes his music on vintage keyboards, interpreting the mood of Goldfrapp's lyrics. Alison Goldfrapp believes that "music is a visual experience" and therefore visualises her lyrics before writing them. Her songwriting is characterised by its use of animals to describe human emotions and status.
Voice:
Δ Goldfrapp possesses an expansive soprano vocal range. She is also noted for her operatic abilities, in which she was classically trained, particularly on the groups debut album Felt Mountain and prominently on the songs Utopia and Pilots; her delivery in a more contemporary voice has been described as breathy, sultry and startling.
Δ Goldfrapp has also been commended for her vocal versatility, morphing her voice to fit various genres such as folk, pop, classical, dance, trip hop and electronica throughout her career. Goldfrapp has also been noted for her use of a vocoder, altering her voice to fit the artistry of the material she is singing, such as in the songs Lovely Head, Pilots and Slippage. Vocally Goldfrapp has been compared to that of Kate Bush, Tori Amos and Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins.
________________________________________________________________
| Goldfrapp — Tales Of Us (2013) |
Goldfrapp — Tales Of Us
Δ "warm" and "delicate" sounds
Δ In 2009 she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Music degree by the University of Portsmouth.
Birth name: Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp
Born: 13 May 1966, Enfield, Middlesex, England
Instruments: Vocals, piano, tambourine, synthesiser
Location: London, England
Album release: September 9th, 2013
Recorded: April 2011 — May 2013, Bath, Somerset. London
Record Label: Mute
Duration: 44:36
Tracks:
01. Jo (4:38)
02. Annabel (4:01)
03. Drew (4:40)
04. Ulla (3:49)
05. Alvar (5:38)
06. Thea (4:50)
07. Simone (4:18)
08. Stranger (4:12)
09. Laurel (4:10)
10. Clay (4:20)
Producer: Alison Goldfrapp, Will Gregory
Members:
— Alison Goldfrapp
— Will Gregory
Δ CD — gatefold card wallet with 20 page booklet
Website: http://goldfrapp.com/
Store: http://goldfrapp.sandbaghq.com/
Tumblr: http://tumblr.goldfrapp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Goldfrapp
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/artist/goldfrapp
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Goldfrapp
Mute Records: http://mute.com/goldfrapp/brand-new-album-tales-of-us-out-9-september
Editorial Reviews:
Δ "A sumptuous body of work, Tales Of Us has been two years in the crafting and is their most narrative, cinematic and intimate recording to date. Nothing in their accomplished back catalogue has hinted at the new lyrical breadth that the band have introduced to Tales Of Us. All the songs except for one are named in the first person with a cast list of evocative character sketches, the contrary love affairs, the suspense, hallucinations, fairy tales and modern folklores documented and the traces of redemption they find in song take the poetry of Goldfrapp's delicately considered music somewhere brand new."
In french:
Δ C'est sans doute musicalement et techniquement bien fait, mais j'ai du mal a accrocher... Ca me laisse un peu de marbre...
________________________________________________________________
Goldfrapp Biography
Δ "It's got more of a round feeling, wouldn't you say? Not so spiky." Alison Goldfrapp gazes into the middle-distance and squints - as if to do so would allow her to better describe what she sees when she thinks about Goldfrapp's self-produced fifth album Head First. Sitting next to her, rather earlier in the morning than either would have liked, is her right-hand man Will Gregory. He runs a hand through his hair and fixes his gaze on the same point. If they both seem a little surprised by the album poised before them, it's with good reason. For one thing, Head First took just six months to write and record. Some records, it seems, just unfold in front of you, and your job as the artist is merely to follow the path laid down by them. One song points the way to the next one, which in turn establishes the conditions for the one after that. And so on, and so on.
Δ "Head First is one of those albums," suggests Will. "We've made 'up'-sounding records before," elaborates Alison. "You had things like 'Ooh La La', which were very hands-in-the-air, but there was a softness missing which I think is definitely present on these songs." A vulnerability too, perhaps. Worlds away from the glamtastic sado-pop of albums like Black Cherry and Supernature, it's a vulnerability that announces itself on digitised dawn choruses like ‘Alive’ and ‘Believer’. Portending a chorus of understated digital euphoria, the latter song sees Alison intone, Δ “Without you I would die,” on what she describes as a song “about rediscovering love and believing in it again”.
Δ The vertiginous thrill of new love is also detectable in a title track which divines a vocal of hitherto unsurpassed tenderness from Alison. If the candour of these songs doesn't disarm you, then the manner of their execution will do. The kinetic nocturnal Europop of ‘I Wanna Life’ is a perfect complement to Alison's yearningly insistent vocal – whilst ‘Rocket’ may be the most jubilantly catchy revenge song to ever head up a pop album.
Δ From the startling, Yma Sumac-style falsetto of Felt Mountain's ‘Pilots’ to the Donovan-patented pootling pixie beat of ‘Happiness’ Goldfrapp have long been dab hands at picking out decommissioned sounds from the sonic warehouse space of pop's past and recontextualising them for the way we live today. For instance the cavernous unease of Giorgio Moroder's Cat People (Putting Out Fire) was the starting point for what developed into Head First’s darkest song, ‘Hunt’.
Δ Appropriately for a song whose hypnotic electronic pulse better evokes a tin womb than the West Country recording studio where it was created, ‘Shiny And Warm’ is “about that sense of well-being you get when you’re in a car late at night.” Δ Alison continues, “I had been listening to a lot of Suicide, in particular Cheree and I wanted to tap into that.”
Δ When did Goldfrapp know they were finished? They completed a total of 13 songs altogether, but from the outset Will and Alison told each other that this album would feature nine songs in total. "Obviously," explains Will, "because you can get 74 minutes of music on a CD, you have a tendency in artists not to edit their ideas as rigorously." With eight songs that seemed to cohere as a piece, the final piece of the jigsaw was Head First's ravishing climax. "We wanted to do something that was almost the opposite to everything that had preceded it," explains Alison. And sure enough, ‘Voicething’ sees a choir of Alisons gather, soar, separate and re-converge like birds at sundown, while a slow upsurge of chords fills the remaining space like a thermal current.
Δ Having drawn from a more disparate set of influences than they had done for any of their previous albums, Alison and Will were, perhaps understandably, concerned that Head First might signal too great a departure from what had gone before it. The first person they played it to was Daniel Miller, synth pioneer with The Normal and, of course, the long-serving head of Mute. "He said it simultaneously sounded nothing like our other albums, but unmistakeably us," says Will.
Δ But hasn't it ever been thus with Goldfrapp? Ten years since Felt Mountain announced their arrival to the wider world, they've perfected the art of delivering the album we didn't know we wanted them to make. Head First is no exception. "It's weird, isn't it?" ponders Alison Goldfrapp. "I sometimes think, 'Why can't we make our lives easy and just do the same album over and over again? But the bottom line is that I don't think we could, even if we tried. The whole point is that you're trying to discover sounds, and tell a story about what's going on in your life. You could make more money by finding a formula and sticking to it. But that seems to us to be totally pointless” — (http://www.amazon.com/)
________________________________________________________________
TALES OF US-DELUXE BOX SET-PRE-ORDER
£64.99
Tales of Us
Limited edition 2CD & 1DVD deluxe box set.
Contents:
Δ CD album
Δ Bonus CD with additional exclusive material
Δ 40 page large format hardback book compiled by Goldfrapp
Δ Vinyl album pressed on 180gm vinyl in a gatefold sleeve with 24" poster
Δ DVD 5.1 album version, DTS & Dolby digital*
Δ 12" lithographic art print
Δ Numbered certificate of authenticity
Δ Presentation box will be be white foil blocked
Box set will ship mid November.
An MP3 and 24bit WAV digital copy of the album will be sent to you on September 9th.
*Dolby 5.1
DTS 5.1 @ 96kHz 24bit
Stereo 96kHz 24bit
________________________________________________________________
Δ Goldfrapp release their stunningly beautiful new album ‘Tales Of Us’ through Mute on 9 September 2013. Their sixth album, ‘Tales Of Us’ is written and produced by band members Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory and was recorded at their studio in the English countryside.
Δ A sumptuous body of work, ‘Tales Of Us’ has been two years in the crafting and is their most narrative, cinematic and intimate recording so far. Nothing in their accomplished back catalogue has hinted at the new lyrical breadth that the band have introduced to ‘Tales Of Us’.
Δ All the songs bar one are named in the first person with a cast list of evocative character sketches, the contrary love affairs, the suspense, hallucinations, fairy tales and modern folklores documented and the traces of redemption they find in song take the poetry of Goldfrapp’s delicately considered music somewhere brand new.
Δ With its uniquely cinematic narrative, filmmaker Lisa Gunning is creating a compelling and beautiful film to accompany the album, which will be shown in cinemas later this year.
Δ Goldfrapp kick-start a summer of very special live performances with two shows at the Manchester International Festival on 17 & 18 July when they will be performing ‘Tales Of Us’ live for the very first time, accompanied by the Royal Northern College of Music string orchestra. The band will then be performing at Somerset House on 20 July before going on to headline the Lovebox main stage on Sunday 21 July.
Δ The summer shows are a precursor to a European headline tour in October and November with the following performances:
Δ Mon Oct 21: Amsterdam – Paradiso
Δ Tues Oct 22: Brussels – Ancienne Belgique
Δ Weds Oct 23: Berlin – Heimathafen Neukölln
Δ Fri Oct 25: Paris – Le Trianon Hall
Δ Sat Oct 26: Zurich – Kaufleuten
Δ Fri Nov 1: London – Hammersmith Apollo
Fortaken: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/
________________________________________________________________
— Photo by Will Mellor
Also:
— The Vibes: http://thevibes.me/2013/07/19/goldfrapps-tales-of-us-reviewed/
________________________________________________________________
Discography:
— Felt Mountain (2000)
— Black Cherry (2003)
— Supernature (2005)
— Seventh Tree (2008)
— Head First (2010)
— Tales of Us (2013)
Musical style:
Δ 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 and string arrangements. The band's sound has progressed from an ambient sound in Felt Mountain, through electronic music in Black Cherry to a more glam rock influence in Supernature, and most recently to a blend of ambient, folk and electronic in Seventh Tree and an 1980s synthpop influence in Head First. However, they have experimented with other genres of music, such as cabaret ("Cologne Cerrone Houdini", "Human", "Oompa Radar"), operatic pop ("Utopia" and "Pilots"), folktronica ("A&E") and trip hop ("Little Bird" and "Lovely Head).
Δ Goldfrapp draws inspiration from a range of artists and genres. Alison Goldfrapp listened to Kate Bush, T. Rex, Donna Summer and Iggy Pop and The Stooges as a teenager and discovered Serge Gainsbourg while working in Belgium. While travelling through Europe in the early 1990s, she also began listening to Polish disco music and cabaret music from the Weimar Republic. Will Gregory's musical background was classical music and has cited Ennio Morricone as his main influence. Other media, including film, have had an impact on Goldfrapp; Alison Goldfrapp cites Roman Polanski's psychological thriller Cul-de-sac, the cult film The Wicker Man, and the James Bond franchise as influences. They also draw inspiration from surrealism and nature, all of which appear in the band's album artwork, which Goldfrapp designs in collaboration with Big Active.
Δ The majority of the band's songs are composed by Goldfrapp and Gregory, although they have collaborated with session musician Nick Batt several times. They have called their writing relationship a "democracy", playing off one another while in the recording studio. However, Goldfrapp is responsible for the lyrics. While writing, Goldfrapp uses her vocals to create melodies and drumbeats. Gregory composes his music on vintage keyboards, interpreting the mood of Goldfrapp's lyrics. Alison Goldfrapp believes that "music is a visual experience" and therefore visualises her lyrics before writing them. Her songwriting is characterised by its use of animals to describe human emotions and status.
Voice:
Δ Goldfrapp possesses an expansive soprano vocal range. She is also noted for her operatic abilities, in which she was classically trained, particularly on the groups debut album Felt Mountain and prominently on the songs Utopia and Pilots; her delivery in a more contemporary voice has been described as breathy, sultry and startling.
Δ Goldfrapp has also been commended for her vocal versatility, morphing her voice to fit various genres such as folk, pop, classical, dance, trip hop and electronica throughout her career. Goldfrapp has also been noted for her use of a vocoder, altering her voice to fit the artistry of the material she is singing, such as in the songs Lovely Head, Pilots and Slippage. Vocally Goldfrapp has been compared to that of Kate Bush, Tori Amos and Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins.
________________________________________________________________