explains why she’s a wee bit grumpy a lot of the time (haha just kidding) and her sandra bernhardtesque comments about madge (haha)
Alison Goldfrapp’s shakeup at the disco
Alison Goldfrapp talks new musical directions and wonders why people find her coming out as a ‘midlife lesbian’ surprising
from timesonline
ali looking very sandra no?
Ten years into the life of her band, Alison Goldfrapp didn’t expect to cause so much fuss. But there she was, prominent in the Sunday papers at the end of last year. “Suddenly your life is seen in a completely different context,” she muses. “I’m not very comfortable with that sort of thing, because I don’t like to court any attention other than if it’s really to do with the music.”
The new “fame” of the singer who lends her name to Goldfrapp? As a “midlife lesbian”. In a story published in late December Goldfrapp was outed as being in a relationship with the film editor Lisa Gunning. Gunning worked on Nowhere Boy, the John Lennon biopic, for which Goldfrapp — the band — collaborated on the musical score, recorded with a 35-piece string section at Abbey Road.
“I don’t know why people would find it surprising,” Goldfrapp said later. “Everything we’ve ever done — the music, the looks, the shows — has all been quite ambiguous and undefinable, and that’s how I am. I don’t like to be defined by my sexuality, which swings wherever I like to swing. I’ve had lovely, long relationships with men as well. I just happen to be in a relationship with a lady at the moment. I don’t like to be pigeonholed in my life or my music either. The best policy seems to be to go with what feels right, so I do.”
Goldfrapp cackles about “the mechanics” of being outed. “The mechanics! I don’t think you wanna know about the mechanics,” she says with “oo-er missus” relish. Judging from her guffaws we have, it seems, wandered into a scene from Carry On Being a Midlife Lesbian. “Oh, those mechanics. Well, that was a bit of a shocker actually, because obviously I didn’t know anything about it all. A friend texted me: ‘Oh, there’s a really nice picture of you and Lisa in this magazine.’ I was like: ‘What picture? Where? Really? Hold on a minute . . .’
“And there was a picture, a nice big one. Yeah,” she sniffs, “we didn’t know anything about that. In fact the newspaper was a little bit naughty — they didn’t ask anybody, and they didn’t tell anyone either.”
How did it know? “I really don’t know,” she says with a relaxed shrug.
The revelation added another layer of intrigue to the Goldfrapp phenomenon. Goldfrapp the duo was formed in 1999 with Alison and the synth and keyboard wizard Will Gregory. The two couldn’t be more different: Gregory, 40, is tall, hairy and wears a rucksack as if he’s just stepped off the 8.43 from Bath (he lives near Chippenham). He never joins Alison on stage, preferring to stand by the mixing desk, cocking an eager ear to the sound quality; in fact, he rarely joins her on tour either. She is the on-stage exhibitionist and blows in today in fancy coat, blonde ringlets and Ray-Bans. The coat comes off, but the shades do not. For a brilliant on-stage exhibitionist, in conversation she is terribly reticent. Goldfrapp doesn’t like to give too much away, even how old she is (an educated guess puts her age at somewhere around 43).
Together, they’re fantastic and fantastical electro-pop innovators whose irresistible singles (Strict Machine, Ooh La La, Ride a White Horse) and stirring, sexually charged artwork and stage presentations (European fairytale lore with a glam-fetish twist) evoke everyone from Kate Bush to Eurythmics, Hazel O’Connor to Madonna. Their ultra-disco fifth album Head First is about to be released.
Head First is released on March 22 by Mute.
Just in time for my birthday!!!!
here’s a richard x remix of goldfrapp’s new single ‘rocket’ to listen to on your way to home depot (forgive me i’m not usually this gynophobic…after all i was raised by a pack of lesbians as a young sodomite)
and here’s the galaxy mix of madonna’s ‘physical attraction‘ just because…
the h.o.d. daily gazette
