Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 11/2/08
Label: Mute

From the lush soundscapes of "Felt Mountain" through to the libidinous electro of "Black Cherry" and "Supernature", Alison Goldfrapp - a tiny, sardonic, hugely likeable woman with the spoken voice of Sybil Fawlty (her own description), who says she only really recognises herself when she sings - has always had some steel in her vocal. Go back and listen to "Lovely Head", the Ennio Morricone-inspired modern classic from Goldfrapp's debut, and you can hear an artist projecting - wishing herself into something harder, grander, more dramatic.

On "A & E", the steel has gone. Whether it's a reflection of the song's lyrical content (feeling fragile in hospital after an unspecified cry for help), or the natural match for Goldfrapp's lighter, slightly folkier direction, this feels like Alison stripped of her defences, no characters or projection, just the woman herself. Or at least it does until two minutes into the song when she pulls off a sudden and astonishing transformation into Kate Bush (really, it's uncanny). Whatever's going on here, a welcome return.

    by Ian Watson