Like the fictional Heidi kidnapped by Dr. Frankenstein, Alison Goldfrapp looks and sounds like a lovely child, but one who has gone bonkers while deserted in some haunted Swiss castle. Singing of disconnected body parts in the surreal "Lovely Head," spinning the Shirley Bassey moment in "Human," or crying into her bag of blood and Beth Gibbons' bones in the exotically demure "Paper Bag," Alison Goldfrapp concocts a singular experience on Felt Mountain.
Once providing the disembodied voice to the music of Tricky and Orbital, Goldfrapp is now fixated on body parts, eerie moods, and broken hearts. Taking cues from John Barry, Portishead, and Ennio Morricone, Goldfrapp and collaborator Will Gregory make elegiac music as elegant as "Diamonds Are Forever" and as haunting as Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe." Felt Mountain's orchestra of theramin, harpsichords, electric piano, sitars, strings, and brass is spookily impressive, but it's Goldfrapp's exotic voice that chills, recalling the hostess at the Spanish Inquisition one moment, Mae West on a sex bender the next. She oozes both lust and loneliness, an odd woman searching for love among the ruins.
The dreamlike "Pilots" frames her sensual phrasing and operatic high notes, while "Deer Stop" is as mournful as midnight in Transylvania. There is kitsch of the highest order here too ("Oompa Radar"), but Felt Mountain's dark night of the soul is mostly bleak, beautiful, and deliciously bizarre. Bring up the lights: Alison Goldfrapp is ready for her close-up.
All recordings courtesy of Mute Records. All songs written by A. Goldfrapp, W. Gregory; courtesy of Copyright Control.
