Since 1999 the name Goldfrapp has been synonymous with the critically lauded, genre-bending electronica of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory.
However, after almost a quarter of a century, seven albums, multiple award nominations, and iconic festival performances, Alison Goldfrapp is stepping out alone with her first full-length album under her own name.'The Love Invention' (to be released 12 May via independent label Skint Records) sees the English vocalist channel a love of disco and house music into what the NME UK calls her 'reawakening as a dancefloor priestess'.
Going solo for the first time at aged 56 "feels very different," Goldfrapp told The New York Times. "I don't think maybe I had the confidence to go and do something on my own. Maybe I didn't think I could."
Goldfrapp as a band explored a widely diverse range of genres and territories across multiple releases and Alison Goldfrapp the solo artist seems intent on doing the same, but with more freedom than perhaps ever before.
"Lockdown forced me to think a bit more independently," she told DIY Magazine, "in a way that I don't think I have done for a very, very long time – since I was probably in my 20s.
"Genres of music are blurred so much now, and I think there's something really great about that variety.
"I think it's so great that [as an artist] you can be extremely fantastical and really over the top, but simultaneously you can sit there playing acoustic guitar. There's something about the extremities of everything which I think is very healthy."
"There's a certain confidence I've gained," she told Rolling Stone UK. "[Lockdown] forced me to set up a studio in my home and to do things independently, which I hadn't quite done in that way before.
"And through that, it gave me a new confidence. 'Oh, I can experiment a bit more.' 'Oh, I can reach out to that person and say, do you fancy doing something.' I felt like it was a time to try out new things."
While complete creative freedom was a very welcome thing, the pressure of releasing a solo album also seemed incomprehensible for Alison as the collection of tracks came together.
Releasing an EP seemed like a more manageable approach. "I thought: 'I can't do an album, it's too much pressure, it's too big, this is just a little plaything,'" she told The Guardian.
"[But] it felt like a natural time to do it. [In the past] I'd go off on tour and Will would have another project on the go. He's always dabbled, and I thought: 'Well, I'd like to try something else as well.'"
Skint Records were so impressed with the initial song offerings they contributed to convincing her to take it a step further from an EP to an LP.
Collaborating with Röyksopp on their 2022 'Profound Mysteries' album trilogy also motivated Goldfrapp to record a full album, according to Under The Radar. After setting up a studio in her London home, 'The Love Invention' started to take shape.
Goldfrapp knows only too well that the combination of Brexit in the United Kingdom and COVID means it costs "a sh.tload of money" to tour, as she told The Guardian. However, the singer is set to play a series of live shows including an already sold-out debut headline slot at Outernet in London and an appearance at Glastonbury.
While Australian fans are waiting for the tour here to be announced, there's plenty to enjoy about the new release. Lead single 'So Hard So Hot' is a glossy, synth-laden track paired to a retina-searing video featuring swirling AI-generated images.
The song represents the "instability and hope of transitional states," the singer said via press release. "I wanted to do something that had that very clubby, acid-y feeling to it. I wanted lightness to come out of the chorus – there's tension there, as well as euphoric freedom."
The second single is 'NeverStop'; a track that antiMusic describes as 'a tantalising menagerie of staccato synths and a driving four-to-the-floor rhythm', which has been accompanied by a video directed in collaboration with Mat Maitland.
"'NeverStop' is about always feeling the wonder," Goldfrapp said via press release. "[It's about] committing to connect with each other, nature, and our surroundings while trying to navigate through the contradictions and complexities of life."
Collaborations have always been a big part of Goldfrapp's offering, starting in 1994 when she worked with dance duo Orbital before appearing on albums by Dreadzone and Tricky.
'The Love Invention' was executively produced and co-written by Alison, and features collaborations with producer Richard X (Pet Shop Boys, M.I.A.), James Greenwood (Daniel Avery, Kelly Lee Owens) and Toby Scott (The Gossip, Annie).
The digital album features additional tracks including the Röyksopp collaboration 'Impossible' and previously released Paul Woolford and Claptone club collaborations.
"When Alison Goldfrapp asked me to collaborate, it was a no brainer for me," Claptone told Clash. "I've always been enchanted by the magic world she created and her stunning voice, so I was really happy that we could merge our trickery to create [the track] 'Digging Deeper'."
"In 'Digging Deeper', I'm effortlessly gliding through air, on a gloriously hot breezy night arriving at a blissed-out dance floor on the island of my dreams," adds Goldfrapp.
Adam Klein of Goldfrapp's management company Fascination Management told Music Week: "I am so unbelievably excited for people to hear the world-conquering album. It truly is a return to the dance floor for this iconic artist who has influenced an entire generation of electronic musicians."
Releasing a solo record this deep into a music career may be unnerving to many, but the singer remains undaunted.
"It feels all sort of very new and fresh to me, which is a great feeling," she told The New York Times, "and if it should yield a hit single or two, that's all the better. I mean, hey, who doesn't want a hit?"
'The Love Invention' is released 12 May.
