We've been waiting a long time for new material from Goldfrapp. Train is the first single from the forthcoming album Black Cherry and gracious me, it's quite a departure from the serenity of Felt Mountain. Kicking off with grating electronica and what sounds like a circular saw, it's only when Alison Goldfrapp's unmistakable voice is draped over the top it becomes half-way recognisable.
The trouble is, it doesn't seem very innovative - and that's what we've come to expect from Goldfrapp. The lyrics are incomprehensible ("Plastic brain scan / I want laser / I'm your chauffeur / with high gloss highs / take you where you want") and while that didn't matter when the sounds were exquisite and original, it grates a bit here. Train does grow on you, and the relentless rhythms will go down well in clubs, but I'm not bowled over by it as I was by Human at first hearing.
As if she's trying to make sure we don't assume her little-girl looks front a demure miss (no-one having seen her on stage wearing her fuck-me shoes would make that mistake, of course), the accompanying video features a debauched party, a cross between S&M and bestiality and a spectacular dancer who can rotate her nipple tassels in opposite directions (how do they do that?). It's surely too raunchy to be shown on terrestrial television... but it makes the point, in case you were in any doubt.
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