Rating: 3/5
Verdict: Get into the groove before it's too late
It's been a decade since British electronic act Goldfrapp - singer, synth player and clothes horse Alison Goldfrapp and producer Will Gregory - released their debut album Felt Mountain. Its brooding tranquility still sounds as unique as the day it came out, yet it's hard to imagine their latest fantastical and often fluffy offering sounding quite as fresh in 10 years' time.
On previous album Seventh Tree they all but did away with the electronic pop and dancefloor swagger of 2003's Black Cherry in favour of Felt Mountain's more moody and dreamy climes - and on Head First they've hit somewhere between the two and managed to come up with their most poppy and radio-friendly songs to date.
That also means short-term impact songs like Alive, with its spectral starbursts, soft wailing guitars, bendy synthesised bass and first single, Rocket, which has a boppy synth riff that's a cross between Van Halen's Jump and Starship's We Built This City.
Dreaming is more stealth, Hunt is Goldfrapp at their hushed and anthemic best and the standout is Shiny and Warm which escalates from lo-fi bleeps and belches into swinging grooves. Unfortunately it ends abruptly and gives way to the poppy fun-meets-sitcom theme of I Wanna Life.
Head First is pulsing, contagious and builds up a feelgood new disco mood, but likely to be a fleeting yet fun fad.
