Felt Mountain

Felt Mountain
Studio album by Goldfrapp
Released 11 September 2000 (2000-09-11)
Recorded September 1999 – February 2000 in Wiltshire, England
Genre
Length 39:32
Label Mute
Producer Alison Goldfrapp, Will Gregory
Goldfrapp chronology
Felt Mountain
(2000)		 Black Cherry
(2003)
Singles from Felt Mountain
  1. "Lovely Head"
    Released: 15 May 2000
  2. "Utopia"
    Released: 16 October 2000
  3. "Human"
    Released: 26 February 2001
  4. "Utopia (Genetically Enriched)"
    Released: 11 June 2001
  5. "Pilots"
    Released: 5 November 2001

Felt Mountain is the debut album by English electronic duo Goldfrapp. It was released in the United Kingdom on 11 September 2000 by Mute Records. The album takes influence from a variety of music styles such as 1960s pop, cabaret, folk and electronica.[3][4]

Felt Mountain peaked at number 57 in Goldfrapp's native United Kingdom,[5] and was certified gold in October 2001.[6] It was generally well received by music critics, and it was described as "simultaneously smarmy and seductive, yet elegant and graceful".[7] In 2001, the album was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, an annual music prize awarded for the best British or Irish album from the previous year.[8]

Recording and production

Goldfrapp signed a recording contract with London-based record label Mute Records in August 1999.[4] The pair began recording their debut album over a six-month period, beginning in September 1999, in a rented bungalow in the Wiltshire countryside.[4] The recording process was difficult for Alison Goldfrapp, who was often alone and disturbed by the mice and insects in the bungalow.[4] Gregory described their recording sessions as intense because he was unaccustomed to composing with others.[9] Goldfrapp contributed the album's lyrics, and Gregory and Goldfrapp composed the music together.[9] The lyrics are abstract obsessional tales inspired by films, Goldfrapp's childhood, and the loneliness she felt while recording the album.[4] Musically, the album takes influence from a variety of styles including 1960s pop, cabaret, folk, and electronica.[3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[3]
entertainment.iefavourable[10]
Flak Magazinefavourable[11]
musicOMHfavourable[12]
NME6/10[13]
Pitchfork Media8.0/10[7]
Yahoo! Musicfavourable[14]

Allmusic reviewer Heather Phares referred to the album as a "strange and beautiful mix of the romantic, eerie, and world-weary" and named it "one of 2000's most impressive debuts".[3] Eric Wittmershaus of Flak Magazine called Felt Mountain "an enchanting, accessible debut", citing "Human" and "Deer Stop" as its best songs.[11] In a review for Pitchfork Media, Matt LeMay described the album as "elegant and graceful", but felt that the "songs aren't all that different from one another."[7] Sacha Esterson of musicOMH compared Felt Mountain to Portishead and wrote that it could be a "contender for the year's best album".[12] Yahoo! Music's Ken Micallef commented that the duo "make elegiac music as elegant as 'Diamonds Are Forever' and as haunting as Bobbie Gentry's 'Ode to Billie Joe'", concluding that the album's "dark night of the soul is mostly bleak, beautiful, and deliciously bizarre."[14] Andrew Lynch of entertainment.ie noted that "[a]lthough at times it feel [sic] a little contrived, for the most part this is stylishly decadent music that should appeal to all fans of film noir."[10] The NME viewed the album as "cold, desolate and old-fashioned" and argued that Felt Mountain was not a "bad concept" except that "Portishead got there first, and managed to update the spy-film vibe with a hefty dose of break-driven twilight melancholia."[13]

Q magazine included the album on its list of the top fifty albums of 2000.[15] The following year, Felt Mountain was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, an annual music prize awarded for the best British or Irish album from the previous year.[8] In 2006, the album was included in Robert Dimery's book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[16] In November 2009, The Times ranked Felt Mountain at number sixteen on its list of the 100 best pop albums of the 2000s.[17] The album was placed at number ninety-four on Slant Magazine's list of the best albums of the 2000s.[18]

Chart performance

Felt Mountain debuted at number 144 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 914 copies in its first week.[19] In 2001, the album peaked at number fifty-seven, and has sold 177,096 copies as of August 2005.[19] Felt Mountain was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry on 12 October 2001.[6] In France, the album reached number 48, and remained on the albums chart for eleven weeks.[20] It reached the top forty in Germany[21] and the top fifty in Australia[22] and Austria.[23] Despite not appearing on any major charts in North America due to limited promotion, Felt Mountain has sold 52,000 copies in the United States as of August 2006.[24]

Songs

"Lovely Head", Felt Mountain's opening track, features high lonesome whistling and heavily processed vocals. The song was described as influenced by Shirley Bassey and released as the album's lead single.[25] The second track, "Paper Bag", is about being obsessed with someone and not being able to have them.[26] It is followed by the third single "Human", a track with a mambo-style beat.[26] The fourth song, "Pilots", which describes travelers floating in the atmosphere above the earth, was inspired by John Barry's James Bond theme songs.[26] In the United Kingdom, a remixed version of the song was released as a single, reaching number sixty-eight on the UK Singles Chart.[27]

The ballad "Deer Stop" features childlike vocals and sexually suggestive lyrics.[7] The title track was influenced by Goldfrapp's "idea of a wolf being whipped in this little Tudor house overlooking a snowy landscape".[26] "Oompa Radar", the seventh track, was inspired by Roman Polanski's 1966 film Cul-de-Sac.[26] The cabaret-influenced song uses a flugelhorn and a cuckoo clock to switch between tempos.[11][25] "Utopia" was released as the album's second single. The album closes with "Horse Tears", a minimalist piano ballad with filtered vocals.[11]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, except where noted. 

No. Title Length
1. "Lovely Head"   3:49
2. "Paper Bag"   4:05
3. "Human" (Tim Norfolk, Bob Locke, Goldfrapp, Gregory) 4:36
4. "Pilots"   4:29
5. "Deer Stop"   4:06
6. "Felt Mountain"   4:17
7. "Oompa Radar"   4:42
8. "Utopia"   4:18
9. "Horse Tears"   5:10

Personnel

Credits adapted from Felt Mountain album liner notes.[28]

  • Alison Goldfrapp – vocals, whistling, keyboards, producer, sleeve design
  • Will Gregory – keyboards, string arrangements, brass arrangements, producer
  • Alexander Bălănescu – violin (2, 5, 8)
  • Nick Barr – viola (2, 5, 8)
  • David Bascombe – additional mixing (8)
  • Nick Batt – bass synthesiser (1); additional programming (1, 3, 4, 6); additional mixing, metal percussion (3); additional engineer (all tracks)
  • Andy Bush – trumpet (3); flugelhorn solo (7)
  • Steven Claydon – synthesiser (6, 8)
  • Nick Cooper – cello (2–5, 8)
  • John Cornick – trombone (3)
  • Andy Davis – baritone ukulele, koto, melodica (2)
  • Clive Deamer – brushes (4)
  • John Dent – mastering
  • Joe Dilworth – inside photo of Will Gregory, photography
  • Flowers Band – brass band (7)
  • Anna Fox – inside photo of Alison Goldfrapp
  • Luke Gordon – additional engineer (all tracks); additional programming (3, 4)
  • Stuart Gordon – viola, violin (1, 9); tremolo violins (6); violin solo (9)
  • Günter Gräfenhain – landscape photography
  • Bill Hawkes – viola (3, 4)
  • David Lord – additional engineer
  • Steve MacAllister – French horn (6)
  • Mute Male Voices – humming (2)
  • Jacqueline Norrie – violin (3, 4)
  • Rowan Oliver – percussion (3, 4)
  • Tony Orrell – drums (7, 8)
  • John Parish – drums (1, 2, 9); bass guitar, tremolo guitar (9)
  • Kevin Paul – additional mixing (2, 5); additional engineer (all tracks)
  • C. L. Schmidt – landscape photography
  • Mary Scully – double bass (2, 5, 8)
  • Sonia Slany – violin (2–5, 8)
  • Adrian Utley – bass guitar (1, 4); synthesiser, tremolo bass guitar (2)
  • Ben Waghorn – tenor saxophone (3)
  • Chris Weston – additional programming (8)

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2000–01) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[22] 44
Austrian Albums Chart[23] 44
French Albums Chart[20] 48
German Albums Chart[21] 36
Swiss Albums Chart[29] 98
UK Albums Chart[5] 57

Certifications

Country Certification
United Kingdom Gold[6]

Release history

Country Date Label Format(s) Edition
United Kingdom[30] 11 September 2000 Mute Records CD, LP, digital download Standard
United States[31] 19 September 2000 CD, digital download
United Kingdom 15 October 2001 2× CD Special

References

  1. ↑ Koski, Genevieve (25 February 2008). "Goldfrapp: Seventh Tree". The A.V. Club. Onion, Inc. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/felt-mountain-mw0000099041
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Phares, Heather. "Felt Mountain [Bonus Disc] – Goldfrapp". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Simpson, Dave (4 May 2001). "Interview with Alison Goldfrapp". The Guardian. guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  5. 1 2 Peak chart positions for albums and singles in the UK:
  6. 1 2 3 "Certified Awards Search" (To access, enter "Goldfrapp" into the "Search" box, then select "Go"). British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 4 LeMay, Matt (19 September 2000). "Goldfrapp: Felt Mountain". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  8. 1 2 "Mercury Music Prize: The nominees". BBC News Online. 25 July 2001. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  9. 1 2 Flinn, Sean (25 January 2002). "Scaling Felt Mountain". Choler Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  10. 1 2 Lynch, Andrew (15 September 2000). "Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain". entertainment.ie. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Wittmershaus, Eric (10 October 2000). "Review of Goldfrapp's Felt Mountain". Flak Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  12. 1 2 Esterson, Sacha. "Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain (Mute)". musicOMH. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  13. 1 2 "Felt Mountain". NME. IPC Media. 12 September 2000. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  14. 1 2 Micallef, Ken (29 November 2000). "Felt Mountain". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  15. ↑ Flynn, Mike (September 2000). "Felt Mountain – A Strange & Beautiful Place". Munkio. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  16. ↑ "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". Rocklist.net. Retrieved 3 January 2008.
  17. ↑ "The 100 best pop albums of the Noughties". The Times. Times Newspapers. 21 November 2009. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  18. ↑ "Best of the Aughts: Albums". Slant Magazine. 1 February 2010. Retrieved 10 February 2010.
  19. 1 2 "Oasis score eighth number one hit single". Music Week. UBM plc. 30 August 2005. Retrieved 30 September 2008.
  20. 1 2 "Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain" (in French). lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
  21. 1 2 "Erweiterte Suche: Goldfrapp" (in German). charts.de. Media Control. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  22. 1 2 "Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
  23. 1 2 "Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain" (in German). austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
  24. ↑ Caulfield, Keith (3 August 2006). "Ask Billboard: 'Gold'finger". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 5 July 2007.
  25. 1 2 Reno, Brad. "Goldfrapp". Trouser Press. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 Micallef, Ken (17 December 2000). "Whips, Wolves, & Tricky". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  27. ↑ "Goldfrapp – Lovely Head/Pilots". Official Charts Company. Chart Stats. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  28. ↑ Felt Mountain (CD liner notes). Goldfrapp. Mute Records. 2000. CDSTUMM188.
  29. ↑ "Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain". swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
  30. ↑ "Goldfrapp: Felt Mountain". HMV. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  31. ↑ "Felt Mountain – Goldfrapp". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 5 April 2011.

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