Goldfrapp / Brookville - New York Irving Plaza - 18/9/03
4/5
By: Joshua K
Rockfeedback never thought it would see this moment. NYC has gone full-on Euro-pop. Is it to do with the impending hurricane whipping up the evening sky? The prescient joy that we won't be the fools to elect Arnold Schwarzenegger the 'governator' of our state? (Sorry, California.) Something else in the air?
Ich weiss nicht. But Euro-pop we've gone all the same. How else can you explain the palpable - and, in fact, wholly warranted - excitement of 800 usually cynical New Yorkers for the debut US tours of electro/trip-hop chanteuse Alison Goldfrapp and up-and-coming lounge-poppers Brookville?
Brookville are on first, turning in an engaging set of melancholy tracks such as 'Fleet', 'Walking On Moonlight' and 'Beautiful View', which meander skyward on synth, percussion and acoustic guitar. A reference-point for their rich, jazzy, organic textures is clearly Air, circa 'Moon Safari' and when the French band were still fresh on the block and exciting. (A comparison that in no way implies Brookville are mere copyists like Zero 7, either; the music's simply too engaging for that.)
In fact, one would be inclined to label Brookville mainman Andy Chase 'one to watch'... except that he's already arrived. Chase being a compatriot of Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha, Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, and the man behind indie-influentials Ivy. 'One to keep watching', then.
And if Brookville can be classified as 'pleasing', then Goldfrapp is a surprisingly saucy and high-energy affair. From her black, 'bad airline stewardess in the Weimar Republic' outfit to her commanding marches around the stage backed by swirling synths and distortion effects, Alison G. comes across a blonde vixen in command.
Of course, attitude only gets you so far without tunes, and her live band are more than up for tonight's 14 airings. The entrance-music, LCD Soundsystem's edgy 'Losing My Edge', sets the tone and the night is marked by repeated, rapturous applause from the crowd. The performance understandably drew most from current LP 'Black Cherry' and the highlights were many. The harsh, NIN-like backbeat of 'Crystalline Green'. The throbbing yet cool 'Train' and 'Strict Machine'. The fuzzed-out 'na na na's of 'Tiptoe'. And the glitch-tastic Bjorkisms of 'Deep Honey', to name a few.
Fittingly, though, the best is saved for last. For her second encore, Goldfrapp wheels out the haunting, David Arnold-goes-Portishead pop of the title-track - replete with cannons launching silver confetti onto the transfixed crowd. Really, could it end any other way?
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