Product Description

'Seventh Tree' is the fourth studio album by Goldfrapp and sees the electronic duo return to the more ethereal feel of their debut 'Felt Mountain' as opposed the glitter glamour of 'Supernature'. Here they use elements of folk and ambient music, and display influence from Gallic stars such Air and Serge Gainsbourg, all resulting in a warm, delicate, irresistible album. Features the single 'A&E'.

Track Listing

1. Clowns
2. Little Bird
3. Happiness
4. Road To Somewhere
5. Eat Yourself
6. Some People
7. A&E
8. Cologne Cerrone Houdini
9. Caravan Girl
10. Monster Love

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #109 in Music
• Released on: 2008-02-25
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Seventh Tree unveils an Alison Goldfrapp quite different to the one we saw on her career highpoint to date, 2005's Supernature. Whereas that album was grandiose, glammy, and almost aggressive in its brash, thrusting sexuality, Goldfrapp's fourth album is no less sensual, but rather more subtle in its approach. Recorded with longtime collaborator Will Gregory out in rural Somerset, Seventh Tree feels like an attempt to fuse the pagan folk of cult English horror classic The Wicker Man to a lush backdrop of woozy electronics and a restrained orchestral sweep reminiscent of '70s-era Serge Gainsbourg. In practise, this means much of Seventh Tree goes where earlier Gainsbourg disciples such as Air have gone before: chilled-out, soporific electronica with a light organic edge. Luckily, Goldfrapp remains a compelling enough figure to keep matters on the right side of ethereal: the gorgeous "Clowns" imagines the Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser guesting on some long-forgotten Nick Drake out-take, rustic folk with an all-but-indecipherable vocal and an undercurrent of desolation, while "A&E" shows Goldfrapp's pop urge has not deserted her, uplifting electronica with a warm, bucolic twist. --Louis Pattison

Customer Reviews

Seventh Heaven
It is probably indicative of how much this is a departure for Goldfrapp when I tell you that this is the first album of hers I have actually really liked. Quite honestly, Goldfrapp's music hasn't done much for me in the past and I was more than a little surprised to hear this album in a music store and, upon enquiring as to who was playing, be told who it was. I bought this album not expecting too much from the album as a whole but was very pleasantly rewarded for my sense of adventure. This is a beautifully lush, melodic collection which combines a range of influences from sixties psychedelia to modern day electronica via seventies rock, eighties pop and pretty much everything in between - and it sounds glorious.

The fantastic, catchy, bouncy 'Happiness' is a definite high-point of the album, but it is the more reserved, laid-back tracks which form the real character of 'Seventh Tree'. Our first impression of this album is the slightly folky but orchestrally-rich 'Clowns', a sumptuous song which has more in common with Kate Bush than anything you'd expect from Goldfrapp. 'Little Bird' is reminiscent of later-era Beatles, but with very contemporary production values and the brooding 'Road To Nowhere' features Alison's caressing vocals against a background of strings, electronic beats and atmospheric synths. The timeless, classy 'Eat Yourself', all acoustic guitars, expressive strings and unrequited love is one of the many standout tracks on this thoroughly lovely album.

'Some People' is also very nice albeit slightly unremarkable and the same could be said about 'A&E', providing a bit of a mid-album lull, however the fantastic 'Cologne Cerrone Houdini' provides immediate, sultry redemption and reminds me of an electronic version of ELO's 'One Summer Dream' from their 1975 album, 'Face The Music'. After quite a few laid-back tracks, the uptempo, chirpy 'Caravan Girl' provides a good change of pace and boasts a very memorable chorus. The final track, 'Monster Love' has Alison's sweet vocals tracing out the verse's melody with the chorus featuring multi-tracked vocals floating over dreamy psychedelic synthesisers finishing the album on a real high.

Although 'Supernature' is widely regarded as their best piece of work, it is without any doubt that 'Seventh Tree' is my personal favourite. This is an absolutely pleasure to listen to and I sincerely hope that this album is an indicator of Goldfrapp's future direction and not just a pleasant and temporary diversion because, with this release, they have won themselves a new fan.

their best yet
goldfrapp could easily have made 'supernature 2' and watched the royalty cheques roll in,instead ditching the glam-disco for psychedelic-folk pop have taken a huge risk.at first i wasn't too keen on them going in this direction as i loved black cherry and supernature but seventh tree is easily the best album the duo have done.no filler here, singles a&e and happiness are perfect pop.opening track clowns is atmospheric soaked in strings and has a real melancholy feel,its stunning.standout track though is little bird starts of slow then explodes into a psychedelic wig out which wouldn't be out of place in the beatles later ,experimental album,its that good.who knows where goldfrapp will go next but they obviously dont want to stick to one genre and in this day and age of faceless bland indie soft rock thats great news for real music fans.

Seventh tree...seventh heaven!
While I bought this some months ago, I only listened to it recently...more fool me!!!! It's been on constant play since. This is clever, intelligent, mature....but also fun. Quirky lyrics, breathy chilled out tracks like the gorgeous 'Clowns' which are full of pathos (but - if you read the lyrics! - a very wicked sence of humour) are coupled with singalong pop tracks.

If you like Zero 7, Portishead you will love this. Goldfrapp is sublimely beautiful, and also uplifting!

I can't recommend this highly enough!!!!!