Countryside Manner
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Justin Kleinfeld
With Seventh Tree, Goldfrapp's Will Gregory and Alison Goldfrapp change the landscape for a more expansive yet introspective sound
THE MARCH AHEAD
Goldfrapp and Gregory left the friendly confines of the British countryside to mix Seventh Tree in Los Angeles (“I like [L.A.] for three days, in a kind of TV car crash way,” Goldfrapp says). Tony Hoffer, who mixed at the famous Sunset Sound Recording studio, added a special touch to the sound. “Tony didn't think there was enough bass on one of the tracks, so he took out his bass and put down some more parts himself. He's a real musician and exactly the type of mix engineer you need,” Gregory says.
With the album complete and ready for the masses, the next order of business was the preproduction of another world tour in support of Seventh Tree. Touring is always a subject that gets Gregory scratching his head because moving recording material over to a live setting is always a difficult process. “If all you do is reproduce the record, then you might as well just play the record live,” he says. “You need a departure from what was originally recorded, and it's always a puzzle to figure that out. It's also payback for the flights of fancy you had when making the album in the first place. Songs that you thought were runts of the litter often take on a different life when performed live, and they sometimes become the stars of the show.”
If worrying about the release of their new album and planning a world tour wasn't enough, there's still a matter of figuring out what to do with all the extra studio tracks lying around. In fact, the Seventh Tree recording sessions were so bountiful that more than 10 additional songs were cut before the final tracklisting was confirmed. “We had to choose not to finish some of the tracks, or the album would have come out a year later,” Gregory says. “I guess it's like choosing who in your family to save from a fire. Though, I can tell you that those extra tracks would have probably sounded a lot different.” While there are no discussions currently underway for another album, the additional tracks could very well end up as B-sides or as part of new material on a film soundtrack.
Despite a steady rise in fame and critical praise with each subsequent CD release, Goldfrapp and Gregory still appear cool, collected and focused. While it's easy for fame and increased expectations to deteriorate the quality of a beloved act like Goldfrapp, it's apparent that Seventh Tree was a calculated maneuver to ensure quality control. It would have been easy to revisit the winning formula of Supernature, but would that really result in a longer career or facilitate a quicker demise? Fans will love Goldfrapp's new album because, as in the past, the music is constantly evolving and ever sincere. It's all about what Goldfrapp and Gregory want to create, and nobody can influence their space or sway them in any one direction. “The pressure to create is always there, but it comes from us,” Gregory says. “We always worry that we aren't going to be able to write another song, and that's the pressure. You can never take songwriting for granted, and that's the only pressure that matters.”
Golden Gear
Computer, recording software
Apple G4 computer,
Logic Pro 6.4 software
Console
Yamaha O2R digital mixing desk
Keyboards, plug-ins, instruments
Apple GarageBand acoustic guitar instruments
ARP 2600 synth
Celemony Melodyne 3.2
Farfisa Compact organ
Fender Rhodes electric piano
Formanta Polivoks (Russian synth)
(9) Gibson, Martin and Taylor acoustic guitars
Hohner Clavinet electric piano
Korg MS-20, Polyphonic Ensemble synths
Mattel Optigan
Oberheim 4 Voice SEM modules
Roland Jupiter-6, Paraphonic 505 string synth, SH-09
steel-strung harp
30-piece string section
Wurlitzer electric piano
Sampler
Akai S5000
Mics, compressor
AKG C 12 mic
Percy Bear mic (C12 capsule)
Valley People Dynamite stereo compressor
Effects
AKG BX20 Spring Reverb
Boss CE-20 Chorus Ensemble pedal
Moog Music MF101 Moogerfooger Low Pass Filter Pedal
Roland RE-501 Chorus Echo
Univox Super-Fuzz pedal
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