Goldfrapp
Felt Mountain

THE REVIEW

An impressive debut by Golfrapp with this album, dated back to 2000, breaking into the music scene with a soft-pop-rock characterized by dreamy, melancholic, and visionary atmospheres, widely imitated by many bands in the following years.

A beautiful and enchanting album, with a revival of certain 60s sounds, orchestral openings reminiscent of Morricone (always him!), and naive passages with Fellini-esque memories. One of my favorites, still tremendously current with an evocative power that places it among the evergreen titles of my personal discography.
I would like to focus on the psychedelic/Morricone-esque intro of "Lovely Head" (already used for a famous TV commercial), practically perfect: 20 seconds that deeply mark the entire album, presenting its identity right upfront.
Great detailed work by the duo Allison Goldfrapp (the splendid voice) and Will Gregory, who arranges, composes, and performs everything (most of the recordings were done and mixed "at home and in the bungalow," as the liner notes tell us, and it would be worth opening a separate discussion on the production costs/quality relationship, but let's leave that aside...). As we were saying, a magical and evocative album, light-years away from their second effort, the maligned "Black Cherry," where the psychedelic and proto-punk components took over, effectively nullifying the foundations from which they started.
A pity, because I much preferred these Goldfrapp from the "felt mountains," but I am convinced that, given the versatile and absolutely unpredictable nature of the duo, we should expect more new changes in direction, and we... will be there waiting.

Highly recommended for those who love intelligent and classy pop/rock (and what class!).