Goldfrapp have spent the past decade moving back and forth between icy electro-glam and atmospheric balladry, delivering these extremes in tonally consistent albums that dare to alienate listeners who favor one style over the other. Despite this polarity, the duo has a remarkably consistent aesthetic, with a gloss of aloof sexiness and cinematic glamour connecting the sci-fi cabaret number "Utopia", the sinister S&M throbber "Strict Machine", the swelling ballad "Black Cherry", the glam rock stomp "Ooh La La", and the spacey yet pastoral folk tune "A&E".
The Singles, their first hits collection, makes a virtue of their range. The 14-track set pares their catalog down to only their 12 most successful singles and two new recordings, resulting in a tight hour of their finest material sequenced like a dynamic, eclectic pop album. A few worthy singles didn't make the cut-- the joyous "Alive", the lushly psychedelic "Caravan Girl"-- but concision trumps completism here, and chronology is tossed out in favor of cohesion.
Though Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory excel at crafting delicate, seductive ambiance, their most distinctive and influential music updates the aesthetics of glam rock with a harsh, electronic edge. Their electroclash-era breakthrough hits "Train" and "Strict Machine" are built upon a mercilessly tight schaffel beat that highlights the lyrical themes of decadence and submission. A number of songs from this period aimed for this sort of severe sexiness, but Goldfrapp nailed the tone by emphasizing elegance over sleaze, and by evoking complicated, often contradictory emotions rather than simply foregrounding a lewd subtext.
The cuts from Supernature, their finest album, continue on with this general sound but loosen up to express giddy infatuation on "Number 1" and sensual swagger on "Ooh La La", their most successful single to date. "Ride a White Horse", perhaps their greatest song, contrasts their oppressive dominatrix beat with an ecstatic, airy chorus that provides a few moments of spiritual relief before returning to a lockstep that signals a barely repressed lust. Nearly a decade on, these tracks still sound fresh and futuristic, and despite generally getting lumped in with dance music, they point in a direction of new possibilities for glam rock.
With a body of work so focused on raw sexuality, it can be easy to overlook the emotional content of Goldfrapp's music. Alison's vocal performances tend to be rather understated, serving lyrics that deal with nuanced conflicts between pleasure and pain, or giving voice to desperate, lonely characters. "A&E", the first single from their gentle, often bleak 2008 record, Seventh Tree, is an outstanding showcase for both her lyrical and vocal strengths as she sings from the perspective of an incredibly lonely woman driven to a suicide attempt while waiting around for a phone call from a man she's not even sure she likes. The details are rich and vivid, but the drama is muted, even as her voice hits a gorgeous crest at the song's peak.
Though Alison Goldfrapp is the star, her vocals often defer to the sound of Gregory's arrangements, which typically fill in the emotional range of the songs with melodic counterpoints and sonic detail. "Melancholy Sky", one of the two new tracks on this compilation, is a prime example, with Alison's voice limited to minimalist phrasing as Gregory's synth-heavy orchestration climaxes like a fireworks display. Both of the new cuts call back to their delicate, loungey debut, Felt Mountain, but Gregory's approach has evolved with time, integrating elements of each record along the way. These songs may be a deliberate move to come full circle at the end of this retrospective set, but they could just as well point to a future in which the duo can comfortably let all aspects of its sound coexist on one record, as they do on this collection.