Artist

Goldfrapp

London, United Kingdom • Formed 1999

Goldfrapp is a music group from London, United Kingdom, active since 1999. Their discography on Gatefold includes 24 records.

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Albums tracked

156

In collections

1999

Since

Biography

Goldfrapp are an English electronic band from London, formed in 1999 which consists of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals, synthesizer) and Will Gregory (synthesizer). Despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize, the début studio album Felt Mountain did not chart highly. Goldfrapp's second album Black Cherry, which incorporated glam rock and synthpop sounds, was released in 2003. The album influenced the same dance-oriented sound of their third album Supernature.

The Arc of Goldfrapp

The pivots — what forced Goldfrapp to reinvent.

The Alpine Noir Era
Felt Mountain was a reaction to the claustrophobia of the late-90s trip-hop scene, trading breakbeats for Ennio Morricone strings and Korg MS-20 squalls. Gregory handled the arrangements like a film composer while Alison utilized a vocoder to distance herself from the typical 'diva' tropes of the era. The result was a record that sounded like a cold war transmission from a mountain peak. It established them as high-concept darlings before they ever touched a dancefloor.
The Glam-Pop Pivot
Everything changed when they traded the Wiltshire bungalow for the neon pulse of Black Cherry and Supernature. They leaned into a dirty, distorted synth-pop sound that borrowed heavily from the T. Rex stomp and the Berlin-era Bowie grit. Bringing in Mark 'Spike' Stent to mix ensured the low end hit hard enough for the clubs, effectively killing the 'coffee table music' label they'd been stuck with. This was the era of the gold leotard and the Korg MS-20 being used for filth instead of atmosphere.
The Seventh Tree Retreat
After the glitter wore off, they retreated to a studio in Somerset to strip everything back to acoustic guitars and Mellotrons. They ditched the hard sequencers for a psychedelic folk sound influenced by the 1970s Laurel Canyon scene and British paganism. It confused the hell out of the people who only knew them from the dance hits, but it proved Alison could carry a record without a distortion pedal masking her voice. The production swapped the club's compression for massive, airy room sounds and live drums.

Influences

Ennio Morricone — Gregory has explicitly cited Morricone's 1960s western scores as the blueprint for the cinematic scale of their debut. You hear it in the whistling motifs and the dramatic, sweeping string arrangements on tracks like 'Utopia.' It’s the sound of the Italian frontier moved to a cold English basement.
T. Rex — The 'shuffle' beat on 'Ooh La La' is a direct lift from the glam-rock playbook established by Marc Bolan. They took the 1970s stomp and replaced the guitars with overdriven synthesizers. It’s pure teenage dirtbag energy polished for the art crowd.
Kate Bush — Alison has frequently mentioned The Dreaming as a pivotal record for her vocal experimentation and use of the Fairlight CMI. The bird calls and high-register vocal layers on 'Seventh Tree' are a straight line back to Bush’s rural art-pop. She learned how to use her voice as a texture, not just a delivery system for lyrics.
Donna Summer — The heavy use of the Moog modular sequencer on 'I Feel Love' is the DNA for the entirety of the Supernature album. They took the Giorgio Moroder pulse and updated it with modern compression and darker lyrical themes. It’s the bridge between 1977 disco and 2005 electro-clash.
The Velvet Underground — The deadpan delivery and drone-heavy textures of Nico-era Velvets informed the darker corners of Goldfrapp's mid-career work. Alison has pointed to Nico’s coldness as an alternative to the emotive singing expected of women in pop. You hear that detached, icy cool all over 'Black Cherry.'