TRUE
OR FALSE WITH GOLDFRAPP
Edited version published: Frankie #22 (Mar/Apr 2008)
Like most elusive musicians, Alison Goldfrapp
is prone to being the subject of bizarre rumours, juicy hearsay and outrageous
conjecture. As a result, she and fellow composer Will Gregory are famously
prickly in interviews. To coincide with the release of her latest album
Seventh Tree, Benjamin Law presented her with seven opportunities to debunk
seven famous rumours about herself.
Rumour #1: Goldfrapp was discovered by Orbital whilst milking
a cow and yodelling.
That’s true. Sort of. Orbital were friends of mine already, so that’s
why they came to see me. They didn’t “discover” me.
I was at art school doing performance art. I can’t really yodel,
it was my version of yodelling.
Rumour #2: Goldfrapp hates guitars.
Not true, actually. There are guitars on previous albums. But
with this album, it was the first time the songs were written on guitar.
Previously, I think we felt: “Oh shit, there’s a lot of guitar
bands, especially in England.” We just felt it was boring and had
too much baggage attached to it. Plus, neither of us play the guitar—that
was one handicap. But we didn’t want this album to sound too pretty
or folky. Will found this keyboard made for kids in the ‘60s by
the toy company Mattell. It had these great loops played by real musicians,
inside the keyboard, and sounded rusty. We used that heaps.
Rumour #3: Goldfrapp was afraid the only person who’d buy
her latest album would be her mother.
True. It’s always weird when you start an album. You always
think, “Oh god.” It’s like starting with a blank piece
of paper. Because this one’s so different, I thought: “One:
the record company probably won’t like it. Two: all the people who
were really into the dancey Goldfrapp will stick their fingers down the
back of their throat when they hear this.” So I thought the only
person who’d be really enthusiastic for me will be my Mum. But I
got over all that fairly quickly.
Rumour #4: Goldfrapp doesn’t like her video clips.
True. I hate all our videos. I can’t stand them. The only
video I really like is ‘Ooh La La’. With our latest video,
I was very determined to do something completely different, so I’m
very happy with the result.
Rumour #5: Goldfrapp’s album titles come in dreams.
True. There are some dreams that seem really banal, and others
were you wake up and go, “What was that about?” So in this
dream, there was this huge, beautiful tree. It like an oak tree, with
white bark and pink feathery branches that looked like seaweed under the
water. The sun was shining through it, and it felt beautiful and good.
Then I was in this steamy spa, talking to these women wrapped in towels,
lying on big marble slabs. I told them my other ideas for the album title,
and it came out in weird gobbledygook. They said, “That’s
crap. You’ve got to call it Seventh Tree.” So I went outside
again, looked at the tree, and there was a “7” on it. But
then again, I’d had big curry that night, so that might’ve
had something to do with it. Maybe it was the spices.
Rumour #6: Goldfrapp is wrapping up; this will be their last
album.
Absolute bollocks! Somebody started that rumour on the website.
They love saying that shit, don’t they? We’ve never said that,
and it’s not true! Music evolves, your feelings evolve, and you
evolve as a human—everything evolves. So I just feel like music
is this infinite journey, and there’s endless possibilities.
Rumour #7: Goldfrapp hates being interviewed.
Sort of. It depends who the journalist is, and what they’re
asking. Sometimes they’re just really a bit thick, or don’t
do their homework. And that can be a bit of a bore. But there’s
one more rumour out there I wanted to debunk: I’m not having an
affair with Björk. That’s definitely false. But it’s
quite an entertaining rumour, I admit.
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Updated :: 29 March 2008
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Benjamin Law 2008