GOLDFRAPP – Supernature Confident after 20 years

If you are like me, since the debut, you have been a fan of Goldfrapp, which is made up of singer Alison Goldfrapp and record producer and keyboardist Will Gregory. It is difficult to think that Supernature is already over 20 years old. Perhaps because the etheric singing and vintage electronics seem to be a timeless combination that will never grow old.

The reissue of Supernature

This reissue can only cheer the hearts of many fans who have seen the activities of the eclectic duo fade and eventually disappear. Supernature is very far from the debut album Felt Mountain, a work of an etheric and crystalline trip hop. It seems rather to continue along the lines of Black Cherry, Goldfrapp‘s second work that had amazed fans for a sudden turn in the pop and dance world. So while the debut album seems to be looking in the direction of Elizabeth Fraser. The second seems to be turning towards Madonna. 

The musical bipolarity

But this bipolarity has a series of constants that have become a trademark. And dance works always have a dream pop underlayer and the more ethereal and experimental ones hide impulses close to the world of electronic dance. In fact, having a look at the duo’s discography, you can see a sort of alternation between atmospheric albums and those with strong disco traction.

Supernature: a strong disco traction

The songs of Supernature follow and affirm this second trend. They are a game of mirrors that does not spare quotes from the dance floor of the 70s. Those of Moroder and Cerrone, always with a subtle patina of sensuality often made explicit through metaphors and double entendres. This 20th anniversary edition of the album is very succulent, with two CDs and a Blu-ray that takes up the set list of the first CD in Mix 5.1. The set list of the vinyl edition is slightly different.

Part 1 and 2 of the reissue of Supernature

In the first CD there is the original album with the addition of the bonus track Beautiful. A song always in the name of a sensual electro clash. Disc 2 opens with a true techno version of Ooh La La by Benny Benassi where the whole repertoire of disco sound effects appears. It features echoes, delays, reverse rhythms and so on and so forth. The original sound matrix seems to disappear behind the wall of sounds and lose some of its original charm. But that’s the nature of this type of operation.

Part 1 and 2 of the reissue of Supernature [cont]

Better with the claustrophobic version of Beautiful by Richard X Rework, which partly streamlines the often stubbornly equal rhythm of the original version in favour of interesting but never pounding solutions. Goldfrapp themselves remix their You Never Know giving the song a robotic nature not far from the Kraftwerk aesthetic and involving Alison‘s voice in a game of echoes and references.

Goldfrapp + Cocteau Twins + Damon Reece

Glacial and mysterious is the beginning of Koko by Sun’s Signature, but this song deserves a separate discussion. Sun’s Signature are a duo made up of Cocteau Twins‘s Elisabeth Fraser her partner Damon Reece, former drummer of Massive Attack and many. Including Goldfrapp themselves.

Goldfrapp + Cocteau Twins + Damon Reece [cont]

Fraser‘s figure is very significant, as her etheric voice and her unique style have paved the way for dream pop, shoegaze and many similar genres that are the basis of Alison Goldfrapp’s singing. It is a bit as if the master remixes the student. And here Alison‘s voice takes on new sidereal connotations and increases spatially. Also, Reece‘s contribution adds to the song with the urban rhythms of Trip Hop.

The musical bipolarity (part 2)

The techno game returns with Ride A White Horse – FK-EK Vocal Version and Lovely 2 C U – T.Raumschmiere RMX, while Slide In – DFA Remix evokes disco music in extravagant percussions in evidence. Goldfrapp themselves are again operating in the Let It Take You – Goldfrapp Remix where new sound alchemies are sought with very suggestive results.All Night Operator (Part 1) is instead a b-side of the single Ooh La La that recalls the atmospheres of their debut album with Alison‘s voice filtered in the most disparate ways. We are back again to those magical sound places that made us love the band.

The incredible minimalism

The incredible minimalism of Time Out From The World – Fields Remix gives us another unmissable piece of this 20th anniversary edition of Supernature. Here Alison‘s voice guides us in this world of wonderful and often unpredictable sounds. 

Supernature in the eyes of Mum and Flaming Lips

Then it’s the turn of You Never Know – Mum Remix. The Icelandic band uses all its paraphernalia of glitch sounds to give a playful and minimalist reading to the song. Another important one is Satin Chic – Through The Mystic Mix (Dimension 11 / Flaming Lips). The American band revives Satin Chic in an epic and mystical dimension. They manage to take the song in the opposite direction to the original one, which is much lighter and more glamorous.

The live recordings @ Later with Jools Holland

And after this series of incredibly varied mixes, we start with live recordings. With three tracks taken from Later with Jools Holland, a British broadcast on BBC. Two easily available on YouTube, where Goldfrapp present themselves as a real band. Will Gregory is absent but is replaced by very good musicians, including the multi-instrumentalist Davide Rossi. We also point out a valuable semi-acoustic version of Fly Me Away which for the occasion becomes a folk piece.

Final conclusions about Supernature

Of course, this reissue is a great opportunity to listen to an album that, when it was released, divided the opinions of critics and fans. There were those who found it an innovative album and those who found it cleverly commercial. But if it is true that songs like Number 1, Ride A White Horse, and Ooh La La were hits that made noise in the trendiest environments. It is equally true that the duo’s refined research was light years away from the purely mainstream music of the time. However, it is also true that episodes like Let It Take You and Time Out From The World still show us all the grace of the mountains of felt. A sign that the sound magic has never abandoned Goldfrapp. On occasion, they still make hearts beat as well as feet on the dance floor.

Track list

CD1

1. Ooh La La
2. Lovely 2 C U
3. Ride A White Horse
4. You Never Know
5. Let It Take You
6. Fly Me Away
7. Slide In
8. Koko
9. Satin Chic
10. Time Out From The World
11. Number 1
12. Beautiful (extra track)  

CD2

1. Ooh La La – Benny Benassi Remix (Extended)
2. Beautiful – Richard X Rework
3. You Never Know – Goldfrapp Remix
4. Koko – Sun’s Signature Remix
5. Ride A White Horse – FK-EK Vocal Version
6. Lovely 2 C U – T.Raumschmiere RMX
7. Slide In – DFA Remix (Edit)
8. Let It Take You – Goldfrapp Remix
9. All Night Operator (Part 1)
10. Time Out From The World – Fields Remix
11. You Never Know – Múm Remix
12. Satin Chic – Through The Mystic Mix (Dimension 11 / Flaming Lips)
13. Ooh La La – Live (Later with Jools Holland)
14. Ride A White Horse – Live (Jools Annual Hootenanny)
15. Fly Me Away – Live (Jo Whiley’s Live Lounge)
16. Satin Chic – Live (Later with Jools Holland)
17. Number 1 – Live (Mark Radcliffe Show)  

Questa recensione e’ una collaborazione con VeroRock.it. Puoi leggere qua la versione in Italiano.

Supernature (20th Anniversary) is out now, and can be streamed/purchased here.

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