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
| Details | | Producer: | Flood | | Distributor: | Caroline Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Goldfrapp: Allison Goldfrapp, Will Gregory.
Personnel: Alex Lee (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Chris Goulstone, Richard Evans (guitar); Kit Morgan, Steve Evans (acoustic guitar); Chris Tombling, Pigott Smith, Tom, Mark Berrow, Ann Morfee, Christopher Clad, Dermot Crehan, Stephen Morris, Patrick Kiernan, Boguslaw Kostecki, Everton Nelson, Johnathan Rees, Sonia Slany, Cathy Thompson, Jackie Shave (violin); Jon Thorne, Kate Wilkinson, Peter Lale (viola); Melissa Phelps, Cathy Giles, Robin Firman, David Jack Daniels , Paul Kegg, Chris Worsey (cello); Aidan Love (keyboards, programming); Paddy Lannigan, Mary Scully (double bass); Damon Reece (drums, percussion); Denny Weston, Jr. (drums); Nick Batt (drum programming).
Additional personnel: Steve Evans (guitar); Chris Goulstone (acoustic guitar, sampler); Andrew Murphy (acoustic guitar); Flood (keyboards); Tony Hoffer, Charlie Jones (electric bass); Denny Weston, Jr., Aidan Love, Richard Evans , Alex Lee, Damon Reece.
Audio Mixers: Tony Hoffer; Billy Mims.
Photographer: Serge Leblon.
The fourth album from Goldfrapp establishes a new direction for the electronica duo. While their previous releases BLACK CHERRY and SUPERNATURE were steeped in dance and club music, SEVENTH TREE is dominated by acoustic textures, downtempo rhythms, and swirling ambient soundscapes. Where previous efforts were seemingly tailored for dancefloors, SEVENTH TREE is a late-night headphone album.
The album's first single, "A & E," for example, has singer Alison Goldfrapp employing her light, airy soprano in a relaxed, almost conversational style while trackmaker Will Gregory layers subtle synth lines and effects in a way that's warm and inviting. The lullaby-like "Little Bird" is equally lilting, opening into an expansive, ethereal passage reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins, while the delicate acoustic "Eat Yourself" is possibly the album's most heartbreaking and lovely moment. With SEVENTH TREE Goldfrapp proves itself capable of pushing into new, emotionally effecting musical directions without losing any of its much valued sonic breadth.
Editorial Reviews
The opening 'Clowns' is an undeniably beautiful merengue, the likes of which you won't have heard since Scott Walker's 'Plastic Palace People'....SEVENTH TREE is mostly strings, gentle guitars and all thing bucolic.
The Word
4 stars out of 5 -- Imagine Feist with more reserve than Canadian heartiness, and more interested in pristine sound beds than bubbly effusions.
Paste
[T]his new recording finds her in superb voice. More organic/simple instrumentation and lush cinematic soundscapes dominate here.
Harp
3.5 stars out of 5 -- Goldrapp's voice remains extraordinary, as witchily sensual as Kate Bush's, as otherworldly as a theremin.
Blender
Ranked #38 in Mojo's The 50 Best Albums Of 2008 -- [A] tune-rich texture-fest that moistened eyes and tingled toes.
Mojo
4 stars out of 5 -- [A] very English pastoral work, a lush and trippy affair with shades of Edward Lear-like surrealism and John Winston Lennon amid strawberry fields.
Mojo
'Caravan Girl' is bright, summery pop, 'Cologne Cerrone Houdini' has a languid, Serge Gainsbourg feel...
Q
4 stars out of 5 -- SEVENTH TREE is Goldfrapp unplugged. It is a digital folk album. It is hand-knitted synth pop played around a campfire on dulcimers and autoharps and harmoniums.
Uncut
[D]ialed-down....Very lovely... -- Grade: B+
Entertainment Weekly
3 stars out of 5 -- [S]mart arrangements abound: 'A & E' rides a bittersweet, Feist-style chorus, and on 'Little Bird,' Goldfrapp sings eerie minor-key melodies over a bed of swirling keyboards and trip-hop drums.
Rolling Stone
3 stars out of 5 -- SEVENTH TREE is a grower; it's more pastel-tinted than the riotous neon of BLACK CHERRY or SUPERNATURE, but no less gorgeous.
Record Collector
CMJ It's an introspective piece, and also their most sedate record to date, soothing listeners with flawless female vocals waltzing over dreamy melodies.
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