- Music
- 31 Mar 17
Album Review: Goldfrapp, Silver Eye
Uneven effort from electro-pop star
Goldfrapp’s seventh studio album Silver Eye kicks off promisingly with two dancefloor-friendly stompers, in the form of first single ‘Anymore’ and ‘Systemagic’. Both tracks feature Alison Goldfrapp’s austere siren-song gliding serenely over fat juicy slabs of square-wave bass.
The momentum doesn’t last, as subsequent tracks provide less sustenance beyond a sleek pulsing impassivity. They might sound good cranked to the max in a dark club, but listening at home I find myself drifting off. Songs float past like woodsmoke, leaving little impression other than a vague languid torpor.
Despite Goldfrapp’s much-vaunted propensity for change and innovation, this album feels like a stocktaking exercise. They have returned to the familiar sonic territory of former glories – pitched somewhere between the hedonistic Black Cherry and its follow-up Supernature. The occasional spark, as on the intriguingly titled ‘Tigerman’ (isn’t that one of He-man’s sidekicks?) or torch-song ‘Faux Suede Drifter’, start to smoulder but fail to ignite convincingly.
The hit or miss effect – consistently inconsistent or inconsistently consistent, I can’t quite decide – is neatly underscored at the very end by ‘Ocean’, a dark and roiling epic barnstormer. “I’ve lost my will to, I’ve lost my way”, Alison laments. The storm clouds have started to gather, but while there are just enough unsettling undercurrents to keep things interesting, overall the sensation is of treading water. Thus endeth the metaphor.
RELATED
- Music
- 16 Oct 25
Ger Eaton set to release debut album Season Changes this month
- Music
- 14 Oct 25
On this day in 1977: David Bowie released Heroes
- Music
- 10 Oct 25
Album Review: Brendan Graham, The Arrow of Time
RELATED
- Music
- 10 Oct 25
Album Review: Jamie Duffy, Jamie Duffy
- Music
- 09 Oct 25
Madonna to release Bedtime Stories-The Untold Chapter
- Music
- 09 Oct 25
Album Review: Mary Stokes Band, Hometown Blues
- Music
- 08 Oct 25