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Live Review
by SashaS
5-12-2001
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| Alison Goldfrapp |
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Live: Goldfrapp
Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Tuesday, December 4, 2001
Goldfrapp: Alison’s provocative attire adds rare beauty quotient to our miserable lives
On the way out someone was already offering bootleg CDs of the previous night’s show and I was very tempted to part with me dosh for it, as it was – a mesmerising performance! Such a stylish and spellbinding concert that we all felt transported inside an ambient-cum-romantic soundtrack. Goldfrapp, and its chanteuse Alison in particular, definitely compliment sonic heaven, if there is one.
Starting with an instrumental of solid filmic quality leads to visualizing Cary Grant driving the winding roads towards Monte Carlo with Audrey Hepburn’s scarf trailing out of a speeding topless tourer! And then, Alison steps out in her vampish, see-through skirted, black dress without actually exploiting sex-appeal, unlike so many of her fellow contemporaries rely upon. Ms Goldfrapp’s elegance harks back to some high-class joint in the bygone era (as in a Hollywood-flick).
The all-seated venue for this occasion falls deadly silent when this svelte woman lets her voice reach for galaxy… in the night the stars shine bright as you travel through the Russian steppe. Goldfrapp music is like mental performance art where nothing actually happens but it is so full of imagery to let you associate, project and fantasize about yester-times or the world’s cinematic-and-ideal version.
It is a Weimer Berlin via Victorian musichall and Paris (of the 1960s chansons) for the 21st century widescreen soundrama. The band’s unusual line-up of a couple of keyboardists, two percussionists, guitarist and string section, is powerful but Goldfrapp’s true strength lies in Alison’s lungs. Even the workout favourite, ‘Physical’ by Olivia Newton-John, is dragged from its exercise pedestal into a bedroomy erotica of epic proportion.
Three microphones are used for alternating vocals, an array of mellifluous singing, mutated tones and voxbox-ing as an additional instrument. Goldfrapp is a two-person outfit, Will Gregory is her partner-in-sound, but there is only one focus here that fondles your soul, mends your embittered heart and misguides you into disillusionment of immortality.
Songs from ‘Felt Mountain’ come alive in an altered state that makes all the usual categories redundant as it transcends them all; songs like ‘Human’, ‘Pilots and ‘Utopia’ leave one grabbing for emotional reality. When several (male) voices ask her to speak she responds with another song of clarity and precision without loosening on passion. From mountaintops via luscious valleys to the bare beauty of a desert’s open space... and then, I dream more with my eyes wide shut.
Goldfrapp are indecently sublime and an inch short of amazing!
SashaS
5-12-2001
Goldfrapp’s album ‘Felt Mountain’ is available now on Mute Records as a Limited Edition (extra CD of 8 items)
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