Silver Eye

Silver Eye comes close to being an absolute triumph, thanks in large part to the extraordinary sonic boom that the production packs. Unfortunately, it’s bogged down by a few weaker moments that prevent it from actually reaching that top-tier level of an album that might compete for one of the year’s best, but it’s close—very very close.

As is Goldfrapp’s trademark, Silver Eye is an intricately constructed musical tapestry, replete with multiple sonic ingredients and vocal flourishes that coalesce for another enchanting affair.

On Goldfrapp’s seventh album, Silver Eye, the London-based electropop duo of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory return to their “Disco Goldfrapp” persona that has brought them great success in the past.

Silver Eye may not be the most unique Goldfrapp album, but it stands a good chance of going down as one of their most definitive. By stirring together the various elements they’ve previously showcased separately, the duo creates a heady brew of electronica worthy of heavy rotation.

Silver Eye finds Goldfrapp back in the punchy eroto-electropop mode of Black Cherry, with sensual synthesiser fizz and low-register fluttering electronics stalking Alison Goldfrapp.

Silver Eye's strength lies with its strong sense of mood rather than any truly memorable material.

Silver Eye returns to the swagger of their early years with a vengeance.

Its highlights will do for now – there’s great stuff here – but it’s hard not to compare it to the days when you never quite knew what a Goldfrapp album would contain, or to hope they opt for another dramatic stylistic shift in future: it’s better to embody the idea of transformation than to sing about it.

Metamorphosis might be the major theme of Silver Eye, but Goldfrapp doesn’t seem to have done much of it themselves.

There’s a feeling that the long-running electronic duo is holding itself back on Silver Eye, an album that has its beguiling moments, but fails to replicate the dance-floor punch and romantic swoon of Goldfrapp’s ’00s recordings.

In ‘Silver Eye’, they seem to have returned to the elements that they jell with best. Truly Alison Goldfrapp has a voice like no-one else on the electronic scene today, and it remains as the winning and most effective element on their new release.

This isn’t a terrible album, it’s just so far below average as to make it entirely irrelevant. No doubt it’s being passed around advertising agency desks as I type, and no doubt it will help shift some perfume, or hatchbacks, or sports watches, or shower gel.