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Urban_Tribesman

Turqs said:
Tigerman, Beast That Never Was Anymore, swims in the Ocean of Systemagic chasing Faux Suede Drifter with Moon in Your Mouth and Zodiac Black eyes screaming that Everything is Never Enough to Become the One.

Take two of these tablets before going to bed and come to see me on Monday.

Turqs

Too late, I've posted it on Twitter...

Low

Urban_Tribesman said: Low said:Anyone else finding that after 7 or 8 listens they still can't fully get a read on Silver Eye?
Yes, agree with you Low.
I like it. I want to like it more but I feel something is missing to put it up amongst my favourites.
I think my favourite track is Ocean. I like Become the One, and Alison's return to shifting her vocal down really low, like in Tiptoe but therein lies the dilemma. I prefer Tiptoe to be honest and I think it is the absence of strings on SE that is the problem . I listened back to Black Cherry, as it too was a heavily synth based album following a more cinematic soundscape type album (Felt Mountain) . About half the songs are all synth, Crystalline Green, Train, Twist, Strict Machine and the wonderfully dark Slippage, but the other half all feature strings at some point, Black Cherry, Deep Honey, Hairy Trees and Tiptoe, and this elevates the album overall, giving it a warmer, more rounded feel and texture. Tiptoe starts all brash and thick with synths but then you get a snatch of strings in the middle that takes it to another level and then they drop out again and return for the last minute and that end section is just Wow! So rich. It always gives me one of those moments where your body has an involuntary emotional response and the hairs on your arm stand up.
There is no track on Silver Eye I dislike, a couple I'm Ho-hum over but that may change over time. Some of the tracks are better when they are played live, Anymore in particular.
Feel free to take pot shots now.

I think that's the problem as well. Strings make an appearance on every single Goldfrapp album apart from this. The closest we get is on Moon In Your Mouth and coincidentally that's possibly my favourite song on the album and certainly the most beautiful. I feel like it either needs another warmer song or another upbeat song around the middle to help it stay afloat. The songs individually are all impressive but as a 10 song collection I can't help but feel there's something missing.

Urban_Tribesman

I've seen the band on every tour except Felt Mountain, as it was BGF, and this is the first tour with no violinist on stage. Even Supernature tour had a violinist; Davidee, despite its heavy synth basis.
Strings are one of Goldfrapp's USP's. They add gravitas and grandeur. Hopefully they will return at some point

ryanraymedina · Post edited by ryanraymedina at 2017-04-06 20:17:44

So I bought a Subpac-M2 (a wearable subwoofer vest) JUST for Silver Eye... and my life is no longer the same... I'm literally swimming in these songs... I can not imagine ever listening to Goldfrapp again with just speakers, or on a sound system, or with headphones (in the traditional sense) lol.

Glitterizer

Urban_Tribesman said:

Low said:
Anyone else finding that after 7 or 8 listens they still can't fully get a read on Silver Eye?

Yes, agree with you Low.
I like it. I want to like it more but I feel something is missing to put it up amongst my favourites.
I think my favourite track is Ocean. I like Become the One, and Alison's return to shifting her vocal down really low, like in Tiptoe but therein lies the dilemma. I prefer Tiptoe to be honest and I think it is the absence of strings on SE that is the problem . I listened back to Black Cherry, as it too was a heavily synth based album following a more cinematic soundscape type album (Felt Mountain) . About half the songs are all synth, Crystalline Green, Train, Twist, Strict Machine and the wonderfully dark Slippage, but the other half all feature strings at some point, Black Cherry, Deep Honey, Hairy Trees and Tiptoe, and this elevates the album overall, giving it a warmer, more rounded feel and texture. Tiptoe starts all brash and thick with synths but then you get a snatch of strings in the middle that takes it to another level and then they drop out again and return for the last minute and that end section is just Wow! So rich. It always gives me one of those moments where your body has an involuntary emotional response and the hairs on your arm stand up.
There is no track on Silver Eye I dislike, a couple I'm Ho-hum over but that may change over time. Some of the tracks are better when they are played live, Anymore in particular.
Feel free to take pot shots now.

I think adding synths would just make it too similar to Black Cherry / Tales of Us. They have had plenty of strings throughout their discography, it's nice to have a fully electronic album now, specially contrasting to the "elemental" theme of Silver Eye. The only thing missing from this album for me is length! Some of the tracks could be extended, or it could benefit from at least one more track. I hope there's some kind of deluxe edition coming (specially since I haven't bought it yet :P )

Ponygurl

Gosh, I'm going back and forth between songs and not listening in the order they're presented. So far my top 3 faves are-
1. Become the One- I can swear she says 'fraternize'
2. Zodiac Black- this drips like black silk
3. Systemagic- yes my sister, howl it back

Jo_ey

Alright, I've had a week with this album.

Faux Suede Drifter is my absolute favorite of the album. It sounds very M83 inspired and the intense soundscape of vocals after the choruses give me life. Very emotional.

Systemagic is ENERGY. This one & Become the One give me that electronic edge I've been craving from them. Along with, obviously, Ocean.

Moon In Your Mouth I was not sure about when it was released but as I listen to it more, I'm singing along and falling in love with it. Excited to hear this one live.

Everything Is Never Enough kind of feels like a Head First track hooked up with Silver Eye. It's fun and dancey yet sophisticated. I'm with it.

Ocean is dark sex. I plan to go insane when I hear this one live with the strobe lights, drums and all. One of my favorite Goldfrapp songs of all time.

Zodiac Black, Tigerman & BTNW are there for me. I need to discover them more.

All in all, I (expletive) love this album. It's exactly what I wanted and needed from them. Bring on Philly & Brooklyn!

stevil · Post edited by stevil at 2017-04-07 02:51:00

BEAST THAT NEVER WAS

is the lost Four Calendar Cafe b-side

god bless

@iuventus

if you don't know cocteau twins.....get edumacated =((

iuventus · Post edited by iuventus at 2017-04-07 04:52:41

*is kissed out*

whispered

I'm a diehard addict of the earliest Frapp. When I heard there were no strings on Silver Eye, my weary heart sighed in disappointment. Oh ye of little faith!

Turns out it is bloody gorgeous. Perhaps I can do without Tigerman; otherwise, it is a Homeric epic, a wine-dark sea of magic and spell-casting.

The opening tracks are a prelude, and the closing pair a coda, and in between, BTO-FSD-ZB-BTNW-EINE make a single songline, enough to carry me through life for now.

MonsterLove

I absolutely love the dark 80's synth bass in Tigerman.. and the high pitched harmonies on the 'TIGERMAN' bits after the chorus.. I get it could be a bland song to most but the feel of the music, along with the added bass completely makes it for me. I do agree that I wish it didn't fade so soon, and that maybe it progressed into more of a 'moment' with a grand ending.

My thoughts on my favourite pieces haven't changed: Systemagic, Become The One, Moon & Ocean. Still incredible.

Zodiac Black has grown on me beyond my imagination! I didn't get it at all on first few listens. Now it's actually inbedded in my mind even when I'm not listening to it. It's so dark and eerie, the sound of the percussion and the devilish vocals. BTNW has grown on me aswell.. I find myself going back to repeat it every time it finishes.

At this point the only one that hasn't changed is EINE - I like it, but it's shrinking ever so slightly.

I do think Anymore is a little misleading as the overall sound of the album as an opener. For me, if BC opened with Train and then Strict Machine as track 2, I don't think it would have had the effect on me that it did. Cystralline Green for me is not only one of my fave Frapp tracks but my favourite album opener. It encapsulates everything that Black Cherry is. Electronic, layered, relaxed yet overpowering.. synths and strings. It makes me think what about if they opened the album with Become The One, going into Anymore and then Systemagic as track 3?

I wish it was an 11 track album aswell... I'd never want to change the final 2 tracks from being where they are, so I'd put another song as track 8, and having a EINE, Moon & Ocean as 9, 10 & 11.

Slippage

I have to agree about EINE. Frankly I find it rather like a warm-up track for the HF tour. I keep hoping it'll grow into something bigger but it just continues along with the same level of "oomph" the whole time. I honestly get very bored with it (don't hurt me!) but I hope it grows on me.

I haven't heard any unreleased Silver Eye material obviously so I can't say it should have been switched out, but I wonder why they haven't made their releases a proper 12-track length to be honest. Lord knows they don't get the opportunity to release an album that often, though I can respect their perfectionism being a writer myself.

Urban_Tribesman

Here's a couple of examples from Supernature, another synth heavy album, Just Let It Take You and You Never Know. These songs are lifted by the addition of strings at points in the song, even if they are synth generated in YNK. When Davidee was on stage, he would really pull on the bow of his violin to produce these stringy synth stabs with Angie's keyboards. Another hairs on the back of the arms moment.

Urban_Tribesman

Some beautiful vocal runs from Alison in that latter one, and Hazel really could do with a shave !

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