When I want to listen to Goldfrapp, 9 times out of 10, I’ll reach for Seventh Tree first.
It was as dramatic a shift in tone as Black Cherry was from Felt Mountain, maybe even more so. It’s by far their bravest album, in stark contrast to the safe play of Supernature, Seventh Tree eschewed almost every trick in their repetoir, dialing down the electronics in favour of a full folk pastoral palette. Alison retreated even further into incomprehensible mood-writing and even sings to match; opener Clowns is, to all intents and purposes, a fever-dream lament about unneccesary breast implants, sung under her breath like a lover’s coo, more intimate than anything she’d sung before (and a completely crazy single choice) .
A&E is about as perfect a song as I could ever imagine. The upbeat, brilliant hook, the forthright sadness of the lyrics, a resolution with a bittersweet payoff; it’s a sad banger that decided to bang as gently as possible, so as not to shatter the crystal that is Alison’s vocal. It is a jewel and it moves me to tears nearly every time I hear it.
It’s not all folk, all the time; Cologne Cerrone Houdini plays with the sort of 60s sound Broadcast and Stereolab fans are well familiar with, and Happiness is a psychedelic-glam stomp held in the grounds of some sort of assylum or commune. Caravan Girl, with its swirling, building joyousness swoops in and takes you away with it.
It’s a ridiculous album, but it knows it. It doesn’t care. Proper psychedelic albums have always benefited from a careless, carefree attitude to their creation. Goldfrapp probably went in to recording Seveth Tree thinking they were about to alienate the fanbase they’d just turned on with Supernature. If anything, the decision made them even more special.
This one actually killed Goldfrapp for me for a while. I liked Happiness, but I just found the rest of it really boring. I seem to be in the minority here, though, so maybe I should give it another try.
Minority of two. Didn’t get on with this at all.
There you go again, neatly articulating my feelings for this album far better than I could.
What he said, it’s brilliant.
I can understand why, if you were really into the prev couple of albums, stylistically at least this album might be a bit of a turn off. I always imagined I was in the minority placing it as their best (a bit like how I rate Red Dwarf 8…). But every time I listen to it I like it more. Its always my go to Goldfrapp album. It is sequenced perfectly, bookended perfectly. It’s brave, a forward step, a necessary experiment at that point in their career that they pull off. Objectively if I go through and individually rate the songs they all come out among my favourites. I struggle to fault it.
I didn’t like it much until a couple of years ago, and I stuck it on while driving around the English countryside in beautiful sunshine, and it clicked so dramatically that I played it again afterwards.
5/5 innit. But sadly this is their last 5/5 album I’d say.
Tried it this morning, got 4 songs in and had to nope out 
Not for me it Clive.
Listening to it now. A&E is a hell of a song, eh?
Head First is the fifth studio album by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp. It was released 19 March 2010 by Mute Records. The album debuted at number six on the UK Albums Chart, selling 23,261 copies in its first week. It was supported by three singles: “Rocket”, “Alive” and “Believer”. Head First received a nomination for Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards
HEAD FIRST
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A misstep. Rocket is a tune but struggle to find the value in the rest of it.
This was a sad day. 
Quick shoutout to this:
Especially Sadie’s Room. Desperately wanted more of that sound when the film was released
Rocket is one of my favourite songs of theirs. Head first is their weakest album though.
I really didn’t give Head First much time when it was released. I went back to it this week a fair bit to see what I think now and yeah, it’s not v good. Rocket is pretty good I guess but I think it’s just much better than everything else as opposed to genuinely great.
Didn’t they pretty much disown Head First? I don’t think it’s a bad album but it’s certainly one of their weaker ones.
Would rather listen to this than Seventh Tree. Then again, I’m not sure I’ve ever actually listened to Seventh Tree. What the critics praise it for is precisely what discourages me from giving it a go.
I’m possibly the wrong kind of Goldfrapp fan.
Goldfrapp began recording their sixth studio album in April 2011,[2] recording in the English countryside, then mixing in London.[3][4] A re-launch of the band’s official website was synchronised with the announcement, which featured a video trailerdirected by Lisa Gunning.[5][6] The duo debuted songs from Tales of Us at the Manchester International Festival on 17 and 18 July 2013.[3]
The track “Drew” premiered on 15 July 2013 on Lauren Laverne’s BBC Radio 6 Music morning show.[7][8] On the same day, the full Lisa Gunning-directed “Drew” music video was uploaded to the duo’s website and to YouTube.[9] “Thea” was released on 24 March 2014 as the first official single from the album.[10]
On 20 January 2014, Goldfrapp announced a one-off screening of their thirty-minute film anthology Tales of Us , which was shown by Arts Alliance Media in select theatres across the UK, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand on the evening of 4 March. Co-created by Alison Goldfrapp and Gunning, the film follows five characters—Stranger, Laurel, Jo, Drew and Annabel—and spans themes of love, loss, madness and identity. The film was followed immediately by an exclusive live performance by Goldfrapp transmitted into cinemas from AIR Studios in London.[11][12][13]
The song “Annabel” was inspired by Kathleen Winter’s 2010 novel of the same name, about an intersex child being raised as a boy.[14] Gunning, who directed the video for the song, optioned feature-film rights to the novel in 2014.[14] “Clay” is based on a letter written by World War II veteran Brian Keith to his lover, another soldier known as “Dave”.[15]
TALES OF US
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Really enjoyed it when it came out but somehow never fancy listening to it now. Feels a bit nothingy
I love this album. Probably my 2nd favourite Goldfrapp Album. I didn’t get it at first but it reveals itself on repeated plays.
I know a lot of people like this one but I could never get into it - felt like a combination of Felt Mountain and Seventh Tree but nowhere near as good as either