The Beat Surrender

Well its been a number of years since the majority of us were introduced to Goldfrapp via the offerings of Felt Mountain (I know smart asses that Formation was their debut) and boy how they’ve evolved with the times.

Seventh tree see’s big strides have been taken since 2001 as the haunting forest valley echoes have been well left behind, with only faint traces of the chic moments that were on Black Cherry and Supernature, the scary looking dancing wolves being replaced with a chilled out otter.

Opening track Clowns could have been conceived round any camp fire this coming summer and is softly whispered alongside evoking strings and the traditional chilled out acoustic, but with a slight haunted egde. Good start.

However, it’s with Littlebird when the duo start to showcase how clever they are actually with the built up drum beat and fazed vocals of ‘She understood his words, that crow was very pleased, he gave to her his wings and now she is free’. Happiness retraces previous ventures, with a head knodding beat that lets you skip round the house and shows that it’s not all about hazy days.

The tone then returns down a few rpm as Eat Youself ticks along, a lovely ballad and is every bit reminiscent of early Kate Bush, but with a more arthouse feel that could cover the final shots of a European classic, with Some People being equally as good but more uplifting.

Recent single A&E finds Allison in her bagless dress and to date must be there most radio friendly song they’ve done in the last eight years, but this is not to there detriment as the catchy chorus could have been arranged for the likes of Kylie and his quite joyful.

Caravan Girl finds the duo doing a very out of sort but quality peice a lot like the mighty Belle & Sebastian’s Electronic Renaiscence, as Ms Goldfrapp advises us that ‘You like the Sun A Hazy Day What is Her Name’.

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