Head First

At an economic 38 minutes and free of anything in the slightest bit terrible, you should welcome Head First like the first sun of spring, know it inside out by the time the band are slaying festival crowds mid-summer and possibly buying copies to give to close friends and family at Christmas.

Lovely moments abound, but the overall effect is less intoxicating.

For a band that has proven itself to be fearless, the idea of becoming hopelessly devoted to adult contemporary-friendly dance music is either the bravest--or craziest--move of its decade-long career.

Let's be clear about this: Head First is by no means a bad record, with its lush pop gloss and flickers of melodic loveliness. But it is a bad Goldfrapp record, their flimsiest and least adventurous yet.

Only "Shiny and Warm," a dark-disco burner, recalls the sootier allure of their early stuff; otherwise, ?this is pure Xanadu camp.

As Will Gregory's superimposed sonic backgrounds flit by like the green-screen projections of some fickle, seemingly opportunist sci-fi magician, singer and namesake Alison Goldfrapp's voice--ethereal, otherworldly, but always human--remains a constant variable, the cord that connects all of Goldfrapp's disparate, but equally captivating, incarnations.

On Head First, the singer's bandmate-producer Will Gregory creates a pitch-perfect neon-lit '80s wonderland with Hi-NRG bass lines and plenty of that fat synth sound made famous by Van Halen's "Jump."

There are a couple of occasions when Goldfrapp's new relaxed attitude shades into lazy songwriting: Dreaming and Hunt are bland. But overall Head First is skilful pop designed for adults.

Remarkably, the bold, full-on cheese works, because this is an album of classic pop. [Apr 2010, p.93]

It’s one of the most unabashed love letters to anthemic ’80s synth-pop ever laid to hard disc....If that sounds like an unappealing clarion call from a dark musical period that you’re still trying to forget, this isn’t the album for you. But for those of us who weren’t beaten up by Harold Faltermeyer in a dream, Head First is a wondrous piece of creative anachronism.

As both a concept and an insular set of songs, it works. But for an act that’s always found its footing in the future, it’s puzzling that the duo find their present rooted so firmly in the past.

There's plenty of highly stylized fun to be had here. Just don't expect to remember many of the details when it's all over.