Goldfrapp (2005)
Interview Background
Another fantastic talent who writes her own rulebook, Alison Goldfrapp has spent 20 years crafting a divergent and impressive catalogue with her musical partner, Will Gregory. Although I’d been told I’d be speaking with Gregory to promote 2005’s Supernature album, I was instead connected to Goldfrapp herself for the 20-minute conversation printed here. It was probably for the best that I didn’t have any time to be nervous about this change of tack. Having gained a reputation for being a little difficult with media by this point in her career, I found Goldfrapp to be a softly spoken and perfectly well-mannered interviewee for the greater portion of our chat. There were moments when the UK musician sounded bored, offended or riled, but I concede that some of my questions simply pushed her buttons. Wilfully playing with fire, I later crafted the prickly ‘offcuts’ of our conversation into a column called How To Piss Off Alison Goldfrapp In Five Easy Moves for Onion magazine, but the interview wasn’t nearly as problematic as I dubiously inferred in that piece (those questions are included below). These queries might now come across as rather bratty, but I remain a massive fan of Goldfrapp and always look forward to hearing each new album’s stylistic overhaul.
The following are edited versions of stories first published in Rip It Up and Onion magazines, August 2005.
Goldfrapp - Super Chic
by Scott McLennan
Blending smooth and luxurious vocals with a bed of charging synthesisers, Goldfrapp’s latest album is the most thrilling chapter in their career to date. Supernature finds singer Alison Goldfrapp outsaucing the sexed-up electro-fetishism of 2003’s Black Cherry album with her tightest tunes yet, with tracks such as Ride A White Horse and current single Ooh La La capturing the UK duo at their effervescent zenith.
Supernature is certainly a long way from their debut Felt Mountain, hailed by critics for its icy beats but promoted by Alison Goldfrapp with numerous moody spats with music journalists. Suffering a hangover that threatens to dim Goldfrapp’s return to the live stage on the evening of our interview, Alison tells Rip It Up that past reports of her sullen behaviour were somewhat misconstrued.
“I think I’m just more relaxed about the whole thing now,” Goldfrapp states from her London hotel room. “Me and Will [Gregory, Goldfrapp synthesiser maestro] were only talking about this the other day, actually. When we first started it was just a weird new experience. The first day we were promoting Felt Mountain we didn’t have anyone to tell us what it was like to do an interview and what people might ask. We were thrown straight in the deep end - it was all very odd and it was a bit overwhelming.”
Allegations of petulance appear to be disproved by a number of amusing turns from Alison on both Goldfrapp’s Wonderful Electric DVD and on video snippets on the band’s website. These clips capture Alison dancing wildly, strumming a ukulele and playing with the studio microwave.
“You obviously have periods of creative flurry when everything’s happening, then you have periods when you get stuck with something,” Goldfrapp explains of her episodes of studio larking. “There are peaks and troughs when you make an album, but it’s important to have fun as well and make the most of it. It’s important to have fun, because there are other times when it’s fucking hard work.”
While her confidence on stage appears to have grown in direct proportion to Goldfrapp’s increasing dalliances with retro electro sounds, Alison is bewildered when asked if she takes on a different persona when faced with an audience chanting her name.
“People always ask this and I find it the most bizarre of questions,” Goldfrapp reasons. “I’m a performer and I play music and sing, but when I perform it’s a dramatisation of me. Obviously when you’re making music or dancing to music at a disco, you really get into the situation and what you are doing, so that’s what it is.
“But I still get really nervous before I go on, my God,” she adds. “Especially at the beginning of a tour. You eventually get into a flow where it becomes more natural and organic as the tour goes on. I enjoy it much more now than I used to and I think that has come with practice, if you like. The more you do it the more it feels natural. What we do is kind of straight-forward, but I think we are a good band live and that has evolved from playing a lot.”
After memorable Black Cherry lyrics such as ‘Touch my garden’ on Hairy Trees and ‘Put your dirty angel face between my legs and knicker lace’ on Twist, it is obvious that Alison Goldfrapp isn’t timorous when it comes to expressing her desires. Supernature’s Ride A White Horse is an album highlight, with Alison delivering her horniest vocals to date.
“I love that one as well, but I don’t know,” Goldfrapp giggles, “I don’t think about it that much. Is it sensual or sexy? If you start to think about it, it would feel a bit contrived. For Ride A White Horse I went deliberately for that low voice and we put that effect on it to make it lower. I wanted to sound a bit aloof - almost Germanic - with a chorus that was more dreamy and wistful in feeling. Using the word 'Winnebago' in the lyrics shows that it was meant to be playful as well.”
With Goldfrapp partner Will Gregory, Alison has found the perfect foil to translate her ideas to music. The mental link between the two in the studio is such that the pair nary need words to communicate, with Goldfrapp’s official fan forum rife with rumour as to whether the pair are more than just musical collaborators.
“It’s not that we’re partners at all and we actually have very separate lives,” Goldfrapp offers in denunciation of the internet gossip. “We don’t socialise together at all - the music is what we have in common. We’re very different people, which is why we complement each other so well. Sometimes you almost know what the other person is thinking - it just becomes more natural.”
With the duo apparently attuned to each other’s wavelength, the title of the album seems even more applicable. Goldfrapp’s music has always taken the natural sounds of Alison’s sweet voice and combined it with synthesisers, while the blend of animals and technology has also been a staple of Goldfrapp’s sleeve artwork - two examples of the band creating their own brand of ‘super nature’.
“Yeah, you could look at it like that,” Goldfrapp reasons. “From our point of view it seemed to conjure up a lot of things that inspired us - human versus nature and human versus machine - and the idea of this fantastical world. I like the contradictions. I love sci-fi and the best is always the struggle between being natural and technological. The idea of what does human actually mean? What is the mind? How does it work? I’m fascinated by that sort of thing. I love Blade Runner, THX1138 and Solaris - those movies that blend a psychological thriller in a way.
“Right now I’d love to go to the cinema but I haven’t had time and it’s quite crazy at the moment,” Goldfrapp sighs in conclusion. “I can’t wait to see Charlie And The Chocolate Factory in a massive cinema and be bombarded with colour.”
Supernatural (EMI)
Unpublished Interview Material
Do you live in London or Bath at the moment?
"I live in Bath but I mean crikey, I spend a lot of time in London. A lot of my friends are here in London and I lived here for 20 years and I come here a lot for work and stuff. I’m to and fro between London and Bath. They are both completely different places, which is nice in a way. Bath is relaxed and quiet and countrified and London is a huge, multicultural city - I really like those extremes."
Looking back, were you a little naïve or stupid when you first moved to London at 17.
"Oh God yeah! I hung out with some very unsavoury characters for many years. In the club scene I’d be out with people who’d be friends for a night, but that was it. I could spend a long time talking about it, but it was all experience and it made me very streetwise. I lived in squats in different parts of the city and didn’t have any money – I was just struggling along and learning about life. I’d found my hometown very claustrophobic and I would have left home at 15 if I could have. I tried to leave at 16, but I didn’t make it to London until 17. I was determined to get out in the world and live life."
You play a ukulele solo on a ‘making of Supernature’ video up on your website – how come the ukulele never made it to the album?
"Are you serious? The ukulele? When we’re in the studio writing we’re always mucking about, so it wasn’t ever a serious option."
Having remixed both Marilyn Manson and Depeche Mode, do you try and bring a feminine quality to such male-dominated tracks?
"Male-dominated tracks? I’ve never thought of it like that. To me it’s music and music doesn’t have gender."
Your new album is mixed by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, who also worked on the Spice Girls’ albums.
"I know he has worked with Spice Girls but that’s irrelevant."
You’re looking skinny on the cover of Supernature – are you looking after yourself?
"I’m not even going to respond to that."
I was just concerned that with all this work you might not be eating well.
"Whatever."
Another fantastic talent who writes her own rulebook, Alison Goldfrapp has spent 20 years crafting a divergent and impressive catalogue with her musical partner, Will Gregory. Although I’d been told I’d be speaking with Gregory to promote 2005’s Supernature album, I was instead connected to Goldfrapp herself for the 20-minute conversation printed here. It was probably for the best that I didn’t have any time to be nervous about this change of tack. Having gained a reputation for being a little difficult with media by this point in her career, I found Goldfrapp to be a softly spoken and perfectly well-mannered interviewee for the greater portion of our chat. There were moments when the UK musician sounded bored, offended or riled, but I concede that some of my questions simply pushed her buttons. Wilfully playing with fire, I later crafted the prickly ‘offcuts’ of our conversation into a column called How To Piss Off Alison Goldfrapp In Five Easy Moves for Onion magazine, but the interview wasn’t nearly as problematic as I dubiously inferred in that piece (those questions are included below). These queries might now come across as rather bratty, but I remain a massive fan of Goldfrapp and always look forward to hearing each new album’s stylistic overhaul.
The following are edited versions of stories first published in Rip It Up and Onion magazines, August 2005.
Goldfrapp - Super Chic
by Scott McLennan
Blending smooth and luxurious vocals with a bed of charging synthesisers, Goldfrapp’s latest album is the most thrilling chapter in their career to date. Supernature finds singer Alison Goldfrapp outsaucing the sexed-up electro-fetishism of 2003’s Black Cherry album with her tightest tunes yet, with tracks such as Ride A White Horse and current single Ooh La La capturing the UK duo at their effervescent zenith.
Supernature is certainly a long way from their debut Felt Mountain, hailed by critics for its icy beats but promoted by Alison Goldfrapp with numerous moody spats with music journalists. Suffering a hangover that threatens to dim Goldfrapp’s return to the live stage on the evening of our interview, Alison tells Rip It Up that past reports of her sullen behaviour were somewhat misconstrued.
“I think I’m just more relaxed about the whole thing now,” Goldfrapp states from her London hotel room. “Me and Will [Gregory, Goldfrapp synthesiser maestro] were only talking about this the other day, actually. When we first started it was just a weird new experience. The first day we were promoting Felt Mountain we didn’t have anyone to tell us what it was like to do an interview and what people might ask. We were thrown straight in the deep end - it was all very odd and it was a bit overwhelming.”
Allegations of petulance appear to be disproved by a number of amusing turns from Alison on both Goldfrapp’s Wonderful Electric DVD and on video snippets on the band’s website. These clips capture Alison dancing wildly, strumming a ukulele and playing with the studio microwave.
“You obviously have periods of creative flurry when everything’s happening, then you have periods when you get stuck with something,” Goldfrapp explains of her episodes of studio larking. “There are peaks and troughs when you make an album, but it’s important to have fun as well and make the most of it. It’s important to have fun, because there are other times when it’s fucking hard work.”
While her confidence on stage appears to have grown in direct proportion to Goldfrapp’s increasing dalliances with retro electro sounds, Alison is bewildered when asked if she takes on a different persona when faced with an audience chanting her name.
“People always ask this and I find it the most bizarre of questions,” Goldfrapp reasons. “I’m a performer and I play music and sing, but when I perform it’s a dramatisation of me. Obviously when you’re making music or dancing to music at a disco, you really get into the situation and what you are doing, so that’s what it is.
“But I still get really nervous before I go on, my God,” she adds. “Especially at the beginning of a tour. You eventually get into a flow where it becomes more natural and organic as the tour goes on. I enjoy it much more now than I used to and I think that has come with practice, if you like. The more you do it the more it feels natural. What we do is kind of straight-forward, but I think we are a good band live and that has evolved from playing a lot.”
After memorable Black Cherry lyrics such as ‘Touch my garden’ on Hairy Trees and ‘Put your dirty angel face between my legs and knicker lace’ on Twist, it is obvious that Alison Goldfrapp isn’t timorous when it comes to expressing her desires. Supernature’s Ride A White Horse is an album highlight, with Alison delivering her horniest vocals to date.
“I love that one as well, but I don’t know,” Goldfrapp giggles, “I don’t think about it that much. Is it sensual or sexy? If you start to think about it, it would feel a bit contrived. For Ride A White Horse I went deliberately for that low voice and we put that effect on it to make it lower. I wanted to sound a bit aloof - almost Germanic - with a chorus that was more dreamy and wistful in feeling. Using the word 'Winnebago' in the lyrics shows that it was meant to be playful as well.”
With Goldfrapp partner Will Gregory, Alison has found the perfect foil to translate her ideas to music. The mental link between the two in the studio is such that the pair nary need words to communicate, with Goldfrapp’s official fan forum rife with rumour as to whether the pair are more than just musical collaborators.
“It’s not that we’re partners at all and we actually have very separate lives,” Goldfrapp offers in denunciation of the internet gossip. “We don’t socialise together at all - the music is what we have in common. We’re very different people, which is why we complement each other so well. Sometimes you almost know what the other person is thinking - it just becomes more natural.”
With the duo apparently attuned to each other’s wavelength, the title of the album seems even more applicable. Goldfrapp’s music has always taken the natural sounds of Alison’s sweet voice and combined it with synthesisers, while the blend of animals and technology has also been a staple of Goldfrapp’s sleeve artwork - two examples of the band creating their own brand of ‘super nature’.
“Yeah, you could look at it like that,” Goldfrapp reasons. “From our point of view it seemed to conjure up a lot of things that inspired us - human versus nature and human versus machine - and the idea of this fantastical world. I like the contradictions. I love sci-fi and the best is always the struggle between being natural and technological. The idea of what does human actually mean? What is the mind? How does it work? I’m fascinated by that sort of thing. I love Blade Runner, THX1138 and Solaris - those movies that blend a psychological thriller in a way.
“Right now I’d love to go to the cinema but I haven’t had time and it’s quite crazy at the moment,” Goldfrapp sighs in conclusion. “I can’t wait to see Charlie And The Chocolate Factory in a massive cinema and be bombarded with colour.”
Supernatural (EMI)
Unpublished Interview Material
Do you live in London or Bath at the moment?
"I live in Bath but I mean crikey, I spend a lot of time in London. A lot of my friends are here in London and I lived here for 20 years and I come here a lot for work and stuff. I’m to and fro between London and Bath. They are both completely different places, which is nice in a way. Bath is relaxed and quiet and countrified and London is a huge, multicultural city - I really like those extremes."
Looking back, were you a little naïve or stupid when you first moved to London at 17.
"Oh God yeah! I hung out with some very unsavoury characters for many years. In the club scene I’d be out with people who’d be friends for a night, but that was it. I could spend a long time talking about it, but it was all experience and it made me very streetwise. I lived in squats in different parts of the city and didn’t have any money – I was just struggling along and learning about life. I’d found my hometown very claustrophobic and I would have left home at 15 if I could have. I tried to leave at 16, but I didn’t make it to London until 17. I was determined to get out in the world and live life."
You play a ukulele solo on a ‘making of Supernature’ video up on your website – how come the ukulele never made it to the album?
"Are you serious? The ukulele? When we’re in the studio writing we’re always mucking about, so it wasn’t ever a serious option."
Having remixed both Marilyn Manson and Depeche Mode, do you try and bring a feminine quality to such male-dominated tracks?
"Male-dominated tracks? I’ve never thought of it like that. To me it’s music and music doesn’t have gender."
Your new album is mixed by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent, who also worked on the Spice Girls’ albums.
"I know he has worked with Spice Girls but that’s irrelevant."
You’re looking skinny on the cover of Supernature – are you looking after yourself?
"I’m not even going to respond to that."
I was just concerned that with all this work you might not be eating well.
"Whatever."
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