Alison Goldfrapp
The Love Invention
SKINT/BMG
Spare and strange synth-pop’s loss is richly produced house music’s gain as—after seven dippy, diverse albums as Goldfrapp—the project’s singer reclaims her full Christian name, goes solo, and finds her soulful The Love Invention bound for the dancefloor.
But in many ways, things haven’t changed. Though leaning toward the vocal nuances of quiet-storming R&B and epic disco remixes, Alison Goldfrapp is a woman blessed with a big soprano voice, an operatic boom that when tamped down is still capable of breathily blowing one’s house (music) down—whether in league with wicked co-producer Richard X (of M.I.A. fame) or other friendly knob-twiddlers on this, her first solo album. Plus, there’s a new FX-less clarity to her voice without her usual Korg-audio manipulation, one that allows the sensual “Fever (This Is the Real Thing)” the necessary poignancy to nail its romantic landing.
That clarion punchiness to her voice works its seven natural wonders to greatest effect on the athletically anthemic chorus to the album’s title tune, and over the swirly synths of “The Beat Divine”—a pulsating, beat-driven rager with hints of noir melancholy in its melody. Although she’s still often an awkward lyricist, trying to bring too many ideas into what should be intuitive and passionate primal emotions, The Love Invention goes a long way to turning her from oddball synth avatar into 21st century disco queen.
