Black Cherry

If I didn't know better, I'd say that the duo was jumping on the electro (the trend that keeps on giving) bandwagon, but there are songs on the disc (like the album-titled "Black Cherry") that suggest more of a logical progression in sound, mixing the more breathy sounds of old with a touch of the more electronic-infected sounds of the new release.

A menacingly sweet and sweetly menacing set of electro pop. [June 2003, p.109]

Although a few tracks retain Felt Mountain's eerie beauty, Black Cherry's natural habitat is less supper club than strip club, and Goldfrapp sound right at home. [May 2003, p.119]

The best songs on this cunning, efficient, frequently daft and fractionally disappointing album are the ones which sound most like the misty reveries of [their] debut.

While Goldfrapp's new sound calls to mind the likes of the Human League, Donna Summer, and Soft Cell, it's more than the sum of those parts and benefits from much heavier beats than many of its apparent influences.

When backbeats disappear, though, boring dirges and space-age Muzak ooze out. [9 May 2003, p.76]

Delightfully pushes boundaries.

The perfect soundtrack for winter 1996.... It's icy, robotic and just a little bit behind the Curve. [#58, p.88]

Glazed soul music that's both lucid and ambiguous, that chimes simultaneously with Donna Summer, John Barry and Suicide, beautifully schizophrenic and poised on the edge of ruin. [May 2003, p.91]

It's spontaneous and weird and, while its initial thumping may turn off those liking their trip-hop controlled, those who are ready to sweat a little will be rewarded by this unique duo's evolving imagination.

From the title on down, the new CD tries hard to conjure an ambiance of languid sin-- opium, absinthe, vintage porn-- but that aesthetic is just a few steps from your average bachelor pad with a zebra throw and ceiling mirrors. In fact, that's where copies of this album will inevitably spin, a soundtrack to excruciatingly banal seduction.

'Black Cherry' is a record that, like Lemon Jelly's sophomore effort, 'Lost Horizons', consolidates rather than defines but, when Alison gets her honeyed tonsils into the warm duvet-textures of the title track, the world can happily stand still for 5 minutes and we'll gladly give them another bite.

A record of jerky, twilit, hard-edged electro.... But for all its experiment and inconsistency, Black Cherry is still a thoroughly likeable album. [May 2003, p.101]

Black Cherry is both retro and futuristic, like vintage synth pop heard through a wall of distortion. [15 May 2003, p.134]

Ultimately, Black Cherry lacks the unified flow of Felt Mountain, primarily because the band hasn't divorced itself completely from its past sound.

Goldfrapp know how to draw you in and, more importantly, hook you.

Goldfrapp downplay the "cinematic" strings in favor of buzzing live-wire synths. [May 2003, p.116]

If you can imagine Gary Numan, Prince and William Orbit teaming up to write and produce a record for Donna Summer, little on Black Cherry will surprise you.

A dull compromise of artistic intent and marketability.

Black Cherry strips away almost all of the film score drama of Felt Mountain. This would be a bigger disappointment than it is if the album's dance-oriented, neo-new wave were less successful than it is.

I doubt there'll be many better albums released this year. [Jun 2003, p.98]