.gif)
Supernature (Goldfrapp album)
Encyclopedia
Supernature is the third studio album
by English electronic
duo Goldfrapp
. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 August 2005 by Mute Records
, and received mostly favourable reviews. Most critics complimented its blend of pop
and electronic music, while others called it uninspiring. Supernature was a top five album in Goldfrapp's native United Kingdom, and its lead single "Ooh La La" was a top five single. In North America, where "Number 1" was promoted as the first single, the album was released on 7 March 2006, but did not perform well on the charts.
The album represented a change in Goldfrapp's musical style and featured pop and electronic dance music
; inspirations were American disco
artist Donna Summer
and English New Wave
band New Order
. Supernature received a Grammy Award
nomination in 2007 for Best Electronic/Dance Album
. In January 2006, the album was certified platinum
in the UK, and has sold one million copies worldwide as of early 2007.
Supernature contains music in the same pop and electronic dance styles featured on Goldfrapp's 2003 album Black Cherry (especially Black Cherrys singles "Strict Machine
" and "Twist
"), but it focuses on subtle hooks
instead of large choruses. Goldfrapp's lead singer Alison Goldfrapp
called the album's writing process "an electronic, glam cross between Berlin
, New York
and north-east Somerset
", and said that she was inspired by artists such as Donna Summer
and New Order
.
Goldfrapp and Will Gregory
recorded the bulk of Supernature in late 2004 in the countryside of Bath, England—the same place they recorded Black Cherry. They had rented a small house and spent some months writing music; they later explained that the unpopulated location kept them from distractions and that the majority of the process was "very basic". Goldfrapp has said that the duo respect certain boundaries when writing lyrics
, referring to their studio sessions as a "democratic affair". The lyrical content of the song "Number 1", which became the album's second single, is about the importance and meaning of relationships, even though they do not necessarily last.
In an interview with College Music Journal
, Goldfrapp explained that they had never intended to create dance music
. However, the singles released from Black Cherry were successes across nightclubs in North America, and as a result, they decided to write a more dance-oriented album. Although this made the duo nervous, "Ooh La La" was the group's first song to feature the electric guitar
. Before its composition, the duo avoided the use of the guitar because of the guitar's overly recognizable rhythm. Four-on-the-floor bass drum
s are also present on several of the album's tracks, and the piano ballad
"Let It Take You" features evening-effects composed on a synthesizer. "You Never Know" begins with Alison Goldfrapp executing a synthesized voice, supported by both pads
and synthesizers. Goldfrapp and Gregory have cited "Satin Chic" as their favourite song on Supernature.
Alison Goldfrapp named the Roland String synth as one of her favourite keyboards
. "Number 1" features an old synth and a bass
arrangement that the group began to use frequently after recording the song. Another Roland String model, the SH-09, is another favourite; she played the duo's song "Train
" (2003) on it and enjoys the sounds that it makes. Goldfrapp was also impressed by a Russian synth, enamored with its Russian-language
writing.
, was chosen as its lead single "because it was up and in your face and it carried on the theme of the glammy, discoey beat from the last album". It was the duo's first song to feature the electric guitar, and received positive reviews, often being noted as a highlight of the album. In the United Kingdom, "Ooh La La" became Goldfrapp's most successful single release to date, reaching number four. It was also promoted in US dance clubs, eventually topping the Billboard
Hot Dance Club Play chart. The second track, "Lovely 2 C U", received mixed reviews from critics, with one reviewer stating that it was the "worst offender of sounding by-numbers, its lazy glam affectations sounding all the worse amid a chorus striking only in its complete dullness".
"Ride a White Horse
", the third single, was inspired by the disco
era. Like previous singles from the album, the song was another top twenty single in the UK. The ballads "You Never Know" and "Let It Take You" have minimal background electronics, and were generally well-received by critics, who drew comparisons to Goldfrapp's debut album Felt Mountain
. "Fly Me Away
", another synth ballad, had an associated music video
which featured Goldfrapp as an animated doll; the video, however, was never released. The song was not heavily promoted and was less commercially successful than the other singles. "Slide In", an electroclash
song about sex, and "Koko" were compared to Gary Numan
's early compositions. A remix of "Slide In" by DFA
was released as a promotional 12-inch single in the UK in November 2005.
"Satin Chic
" is a disco song with glam rock
and cabaret
influences, similar to early Elton John
. Cited by Goldfrapp and Gregory as their favourite song on Supernature, it was remixed by The Flaming Lips
, and issued as a limited edition single in September 2006. The tenth track, "Time Out from the World", features an orchestra and whispered vocals by Goldfrapp. Critics liked the song, writing that it was an "exception to the prevailing style of Supernature" due to its "haunting, yet glamorous, atmospherics". The album's closing track and second single "Number 1" is about the importance and meanings of relationships. The song, which is based around a synth and bass arrangement, reached number nine in the UK and number one on the US dance chart.
technology to offer extras via a website, and a double disc version which included the album in surround sound on both discs. The first disc is a hybrid SACD
with 5.1
multichannel SACD audio, stereo SACD audio and stereo CD
audio. The second disc, a DVD-Video
, contains the multichannel version of the album in DTS 96/24 as well as a documentary and music videos for "Ooh La La" and "Number 1".
The album cover, photographed by Ross Kirton, is a rear-view shot of Alison against a black curtain, looking over her shoulder while covering her breast with her hand. The regular edition cover shows her from the waist up, whereas the US special edition shows the cover art in its entirety, with Alison wearing a long plume of peacock feathers and golden platform shoes. In late 2005, the album ranked number eight on the annual Best Art Vinyl
poll.
, which assigns a normalised
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
score of 79, based on 27 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". In a review for PopMatters
, Adrien Begrand said that "[a]lthough Supernature lacks the imagination of Felt Mountain and the saucy brilliance of Black Cherry, it doesn't pander to the pop crowd." Lauren Gitlin of Rolling Stone
said the album was "[t]oxic and delicious" and that "Supernature will make you do bad things—and like it." However, Pitchfork Media
reviewer Nitsuh Abebe was less impressed, and wrote that the album's songs "keep feeling like exercises: too thick and melodic to work like dance music, but with melodies that refuse to stick as satisfyingly as pop." Michael Hubbard of musicOMH
wrote a review for every song on Supernature, and although he felt that it was a "curious, rather than classic, record", he criticized it for "fading out early on, with poor, low quality songs at the end which leave the listener feeling cheated". Allmusic critic Heather Phares called Supernature "Goldfrapp's most accessible album" and named "Ooh La La" as its best song.
In a review for Canadian-based website Jam!
, Andrew Carver praised the different sounds on Supernature, which range from "a blend of future noise" to "crushed velvet corruption"; he described the album as "one sharp recording". Jessica Suarez of Spin
magazine compared "Ooh La La" to Black Cherrys "Strict Machine", saying that "Ooh La La" sounds "so simplistic that [its] minimalist repetition occasionally teeters over into redundancy". She praised "Ride a White Horse" and "Fly Me Away" for featuring Alison Goldfrapp's "velvet-soft vocals, which stay that way even when heavily processed". A less favourable reception came from Stylus Magazine
reviewer Edward Oculicz, who stated "Supernature is not a great album" and called several of its tracks too "dull".
Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album at number thirty-two on its list of The Top 50 Albums of 2006. In January 2008, the album was included on The Daily Telegraph
s list of the 120 essential pop albums. At the 2007 Grammy Awards, Goldfrapp received two nominations for Best Electronic/Dance Album
and Best Dance Recording
for "Ooh La La".
at number two (blocked from the top position by James Blunt
's Back to Bedlam), and sold 52,976 copies in its first week of release. The album remained on the chart for thirty-one weeks, and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry
on 13 January 2006. By 31 December 2006, the album had sold 424,000 copies in the UK. In Australia, it peaked at number twenty-three, despite limited promotion. The album reached the top ten in Ireland, the top twenty in Belgium, the top thirty in Germany and Switzerland, and the top forty in Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway. It has sold one million copies worldwide as of 2006. Supernature became Goldfrapp's first release to chart on the Billboard 200
chart in the United States, where it peaked at number one-hundred thirty-eight. It reached number three on the Top Heatseekers
chart and number five on the Top Electronic Albums chart. The album has sold 49,000 copies in the US as of August 2006. Supernature was also Goldfrapp's first release in Canada, where it peaked at number eighty-eight on the Canadian Albums Chart
.
and Will Gregory
, except where noted.
US and Japanese bonus track
European special edition
US special edition
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by English electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
duo Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp
Goldfrapp are an English electronic music duo, formed in 1999 in London, England, that consists of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory ....
. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 August 2005 by Mute Records
Mute Records
Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:...
, and received mostly favourable reviews. Most critics complimented its blend of pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and electronic music, while others called it uninspiring. Supernature was a top five album in Goldfrapp's native United Kingdom, and its lead single "Ooh La La" was a top five single. In North America, where "Number 1" was promoted as the first single, the album was released on 7 March 2006, but did not perform well on the charts.
The album represented a change in Goldfrapp's musical style and featured pop and electronic dance music
Electronic dance music
Electronic dance music is electronic music produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centered upon dance-based entertainment...
; inspirations were American disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
artist Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
and English New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
. Supernature received a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nomination in 2007 for Best Electronic/Dance Album
Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album
The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the dance music and electronica genres...
. In January 2006, the album was certified platinum
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
in the UK, and has sold one million copies worldwide as of early 2007.
Recording and production
Strict Machine
"Strict Machine" is an electronic dance song written by British group Goldfrapp and Nick Batt for their second studio album Black Cherry . It was produced by Goldfrapp and describes laboratory rats in neuroscience experiments...
" and "Twist
Twist (Goldfrapp song)
"Twist" is an electronic–dance song written by British duo Goldfrapp for their second album Black Cherry . It was produced by Goldfrapp, and received a positive reception from music critics...
"), but it focuses on subtle hooks
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
instead of large choruses. Goldfrapp's lead singer Alison Goldfrapp
Alison Goldfrapp
Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp is an English singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as the lead singer of the electronic music duo Goldfrapp. Goldfrapp has a soprano vocal range.-Early life:...
called the album's writing process "an electronic, glam cross between Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and north-east Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
", and said that she was inspired by artists such as Donna Summer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
and New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
.
Goldfrapp and Will Gregory
Will Gregory
William Owen Gregory is best known as a songwriter, and the lead keyboards/synthesizer player & producer of the electronic music group Goldfrapp. Originally a classical music student at the University of York, Gregory is the son of an actress and an opera chorus-line singer...
recorded the bulk of Supernature in late 2004 in the countryside of Bath, England—the same place they recorded Black Cherry. They had rented a small house and spent some months writing music; they later explained that the unpopulated location kept them from distractions and that the majority of the process was "very basic". Goldfrapp has said that the duo respect certain boundaries when writing lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
, referring to their studio sessions as a "democratic affair". The lyrical content of the song "Number 1", which became the album's second single, is about the importance and meaning of relationships, even though they do not necessarily last.
In an interview with College Music Journal
College Music Journal
College Music Journal, commonly known as CMJ, is a music events/publishing company which hosts an annual festival in New York City, the CMJ Music Marathon, as well as a weekly magazine of and for the music industry and college radio stations in the United States and Canada. It publishes top 30...
, Goldfrapp explained that they had never intended to create dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
. However, the singles released from Black Cherry were successes across nightclubs in North America, and as a result, they decided to write a more dance-oriented album. Although this made the duo nervous, "Ooh La La" was the group's first song to feature the electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
. Before its composition, the duo avoided the use of the guitar because of the guitar's overly recognizable rhythm. Four-on-the-floor bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
s are also present on several of the album's tracks, and the piano ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
"Let It Take You" features evening-effects composed on a synthesizer. "You Never Know" begins with Alison Goldfrapp executing a synthesized voice, supported by both pads
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
and synthesizers. Goldfrapp and Gregory have cited "Satin Chic" as their favourite song on Supernature.
Alison Goldfrapp named the Roland String synth as one of her favourite keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
. "Number 1" features an old synth and a bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
arrangement that the group began to use frequently after recording the song. Another Roland String model, the SH-09, is another favourite; she played the duo's song "Train
Train (Goldfrapp song)
"Train" is an electronic dance song written by British group Goldfrapp for their second album Black Cherry . The song was produced by Goldfrapp and received a very positive reception from music critics. It was released as the lead single in the second quarter of 2003 and reached the top thirty in...
" (2003) on it and enjoys the sounds that it makes. Goldfrapp was also impressed by a Russian synth, enamored with its Russian-language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
writing.
Composition
"Ooh La La", Supernatures opening track, inspired by T. RexT. Rex (band)
T. Rex were a British rock band, formed in 1967 by singer/songwriter and guitarist Marc Bolan. The band formed as Tyrannosaurus Rex, releasing four folk albums under the name...
, was chosen as its lead single "because it was up and in your face and it carried on the theme of the glammy, discoey beat from the last album". It was the duo's first song to feature the electric guitar, and received positive reviews, often being noted as a highlight of the album. In the United Kingdom, "Ooh La La" became Goldfrapp's most successful single release to date, reaching number four. It was also promoted in US dance clubs, eventually topping the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Dance Club Play chart. The second track, "Lovely 2 C U", received mixed reviews from critics, with one reviewer stating that it was the "worst offender of sounding by-numbers, its lazy glam affectations sounding all the worse amid a chorus striking only in its complete dullness".
"Ride a White Horse
Ride a White Horse
"Ride a White Horse" is an electronic–dance song performed by British group Goldfrapp. The song was written by Alison Goldfrapp, Will Gregory and Nick Batt for Goldfrapp's third album Supernature . The song was inspired by the disco era nightclub Studio 54.The song was released as the album's...
", the third single, was inspired by the disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
era. Like previous singles from the album, the song was another top twenty single in the UK. The ballads "You Never Know" and "Let It Take You" have minimal background electronics, and were generally well-received by critics, who drew comparisons to Goldfrapp's debut album Felt Mountain
Felt Mountain
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...
. "Fly Me Away
Fly Me Away
"Fly Me Away" is an electronic song performed by British group Goldfrapp. The song was written and produced by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory for the duo's third album Supernature...
", another synth ballad, had an associated music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
which featured Goldfrapp as an animated doll; the video, however, was never released. The song was not heavily promoted and was less commercially successful than the other singles. "Slide In", an electroclash
Electroclash
Electroclash is a style of music that fuses New Wave and electronic dance music. It emerged in New York and Detroit in the later 1990s, pioneered by acts including I-F and those associated with Gerald Donald, and is associated with acts including Peaches, Adult, and Fischerspooner...
song about sex, and "Koko" were compared to Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
's early compositions. A remix of "Slide In" by DFA
DFA Records
DFA Records is an independent record label and production team, launched in September 2001 by Mo' Wax co-founder Tim Goldsworthy, musician James Murphy, and manager Jonathan Galkin. The label has an exclusive distribution deal with major record label EMI....
was released as a promotional 12-inch single in the UK in November 2005.
"Satin Chic
Satin Boys, Flaming Chic
"Satin Boys, Flaming Chic" is a limited edition 7" vinyl picture single by British duo Goldfrapp. The single features a remix of the band's song "Satin Chic" from their third album Supernature and a cover version of The Ordinary Boys' "Boys Will Be Boys", as performed on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge...
" is a disco song with glam rock
Glam rock
Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...
and cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
influences, similar to early Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
. Cited by Goldfrapp and Gregory as their favourite song on Supernature, it was remixed by The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...
, and issued as a limited edition single in September 2006. The tenth track, "Time Out from the World", features an orchestra and whispered vocals by Goldfrapp. Critics liked the song, writing that it was an "exception to the prevailing style of Supernature" due to its "haunting, yet glamorous, atmospherics". The album's closing track and second single "Number 1" is about the importance and meanings of relationships. The song, which is based around a synth and bass arrangement, reached number nine in the UK and number one on the US dance chart.
Release and artwork
The album was released in two versions: a single disc version, which used OpendiscOpendisc
Opendisc is an Enhanced Music CD application for enabling multimedia content when a compact disc is played on a personal computer. Opendisc asserts that its technology conforms to the Blue Book specification and does not contain copy-protection functions...
technology to offer extras via a website, and a double disc version which included the album in surround sound on both discs. The first disc is a hybrid SACD
Super Audio CD
Super Audio CD is a high-resolution, read-only optical disc for audio storage. Sony and Philips Electronics jointly developed the technology, and publicized it in 1999. It is designated as the Scarlet Book standard. Sony and Philips previously collaborated to define the Compact Disc standard...
with 5.1
Surround sound
Surround sound encompasses a range of techniques such as for enriching the sound reproduction quality of an audio source with audio channels reproduced via additional, discrete speakers. Surround sound is characterized by a listener location or sweet spot where the audio effects work best, and...
multichannel SACD audio, stereo SACD audio and stereo CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
audio. The second disc, a DVD-Video
DVD-Video
DVD-Video is a consumer video format used to store digital video on DVD discs, and is currently the dominant consumer video format in Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. Discs using the DVD-Video specification require a DVD drive and a MPEG-2 decoder...
, contains the multichannel version of the album in DTS 96/24 as well as a documentary and music videos for "Ooh La La" and "Number 1".
The album cover, photographed by Ross Kirton, is a rear-view shot of Alison against a black curtain, looking over her shoulder while covering her breast with her hand. The regular edition cover shows her from the waist up, whereas the US special edition shows the cover art in its entirety, with Alison wearing a long plume of peacock feathers and golden platform shoes. In late 2005, the album ranked number eight on the annual Best Art Vinyl
Best Art Vinyl
Best Art Vinyl is an annual award that first began in 2005. It celebrates artists and designers of vinyl record cover art. The nomination process begins in November and the winners are announced in January, and are exhibited at venues across the United Kingdom and Europe, including the O2, Rough...
poll.
Critical reception
Supernature received positive reviews from music critics. At MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a normalised
Standard score
In statistics, a standard score indicates how many standard deviations an observation or datum is above or below the mean. It is a dimensionless quantity derived by subtracting the population mean from an individual raw score and then dividing the difference by the population standard deviation...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average
Weighted mean
The weighted mean is similar to an arithmetic mean , where instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others...
score of 79, based on 27 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". In a review for PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
, Adrien Begrand said that "[a]lthough Supernature lacks the imagination of Felt Mountain and the saucy brilliance of Black Cherry, it doesn't pander to the pop crowd." Lauren Gitlin of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
said the album was "[t]oxic and delicious" and that "Supernature will make you do bad things—and like it." However, Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
reviewer Nitsuh Abebe was less impressed, and wrote that the album's songs "keep feeling like exercises: too thick and melodic to work like dance music, but with melodies that refuse to stick as satisfyingly as pop." Michael Hubbard of musicOMH
MusicOMH
musicOMH is a United Kingdom-based website which publishes independent reviews, featues and interviews from across all musical genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.-History:...
wrote a review for every song on Supernature, and although he felt that it was a "curious, rather than classic, record", he criticized it for "fading out early on, with poor, low quality songs at the end which leave the listener feeling cheated". Allmusic critic Heather Phares called Supernature "Goldfrapp's most accessible album" and named "Ooh La La" as its best song.
In a review for Canadian-based website Jam!
Jam!
Jam! is a Canadian website, which covers entertainment news. It is part of the CANOE online portal, owned and operated by Quebecor through its Sun Media division....
, Andrew Carver praised the different sounds on Supernature, which range from "a blend of future noise" to "crushed velvet corruption"; he described the album as "one sharp recording". Jessica Suarez of Spin
Spin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
magazine compared "Ooh La La" to Black Cherrys "Strict Machine", saying that "Ooh La La" sounds "so simplistic that [its] minimalist repetition occasionally teeters over into redundancy". She praised "Ride a White Horse" and "Fly Me Away" for featuring Alison Goldfrapp's "velvet-soft vocals, which stay that way even when heavily processed". A less favourable reception came from Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
reviewer Edward Oculicz, who stated "Supernature is not a great album" and called several of its tracks too "dull".
Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album at number thirty-two on its list of The Top 50 Albums of 2006. In January 2008, the album was included on The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
s list of the 120 essential pop albums. At the 2007 Grammy Awards, Goldfrapp received two nominations for Best Electronic/Dance Album
Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album
The Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronica Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality albums in the dance music and electronica genres...
and Best Dance Recording
Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording
The Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality vocal performances in the dance music genre...
for "Ooh La La".
Chart performance
Supernature debuted on the UK Albums ChartUK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
at number two (blocked from the top position by James Blunt
James Blunt
James Hillier Blount , better known by his stage name James Blunt, is an English singer-songwriter and musician, and former army officer, whose debut album, Back to Bedlam and single releases, including "You're Beautiful" and "Goodbye My Lover", brought him to fame in 2005...
's Back to Bedlam), and sold 52,976 copies in its first week of release. The album remained on the chart for thirty-one weeks, and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
on 13 January 2006. By 31 December 2006, the album had sold 424,000 copies in the UK. In Australia, it peaked at number twenty-three, despite limited promotion. The album reached the top ten in Ireland, the top twenty in Belgium, the top thirty in Germany and Switzerland, and the top forty in Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway. It has sold one million copies worldwide as of 2006. Supernature became Goldfrapp's first release to chart on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart in the United States, where it peaked at number one-hundred thirty-eight. It reached number three on the Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...
chart and number five on the Top Electronic Albums chart. The album has sold 49,000 copies in the US as of August 2006. Supernature was also Goldfrapp's first release in Canada, where it peaked at number eighty-eight on the Canadian Albums Chart
Canadian Albums Chart
The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS...
.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Alison GoldfrappAlison Goldfrapp
Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp is an English singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as the lead singer of the electronic music duo Goldfrapp. Goldfrapp has a soprano vocal range.-Early life:...
and Will Gregory
Will Gregory
William Owen Gregory is best known as a songwriter, and the lead keyboards/synthesizer player & producer of the electronic music group Goldfrapp. Originally a classical music student at the University of York, Gregory is the son of an actress and an opera chorus-line singer...
, except where noted.
- "Ooh La La" – 3:24
- "Lovely 2 C U" – 3:25
- "Ride a White HorseRide a White Horse"Ride a White Horse" is an electronic–dance song performed by British group Goldfrapp. The song was written by Alison Goldfrapp, Will Gregory and Nick Batt for Goldfrapp's third album Supernature . The song was inspired by the disco era nightclub Studio 54.The song was released as the album's...
" (Goldfrapp, Gregory, Nick Batt) – 4:41 - "You Never Know" – 3:27
- "Let It Take You" – 4:30
- "Fly Me AwayFly Me Away"Fly Me Away" is an electronic song performed by British group Goldfrapp. The song was written and produced by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory for the duo's third album Supernature...
" – 4:25 - "Slide In" – 4:17
- "Koko" – 3:23
- "Satin ChicSatin Boys, Flaming Chic"Satin Boys, Flaming Chic" is a limited edition 7" vinyl picture single by British duo Goldfrapp. The single features a remix of the band's song "Satin Chic" from their third album Supernature and a cover version of The Ordinary Boys' "Boys Will Be Boys", as performed on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge...
" – 3:28 - "Time Out from the World" – 4:47
- "Number 1" – 3:25
US and Japanese bonus track
- "Beautiful" – 4:51
European special edition
- Supernature in 5.1 & Stereo
- Little Bits of Goldfrapp: Documentary
- Jakko & the Poet in Frappworld
- Photo gallery
US special edition
- Supernature in 5.1 & Stereo (excluding bonus track "Beautiful")
- Little Bits of Goldfrapp: Documentary
- Jakko & the Poet in Frappworld
- Music videos of "Ooh La La" and "Number 1", live video of "Ride a White Horse" and special performance of "Satin Chic"
- "Ooh La La" (Little Pictures video)
- Photo gallery
Personnel
The following people contributed to Supernature:- Alison GoldfrappAlison GoldfrappAlison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp is an English singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as the lead singer of the electronic music duo Goldfrapp. Goldfrapp has a soprano vocal range.-Early life:...
– lead vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, backing vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
, synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, art directionArt directorThe art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games.... - Will GregoryWill GregoryWilliam Owen Gregory is best known as a songwriter, and the lead keyboards/synthesizer player & producer of the electronic music group Goldfrapp. Originally a classical music student at the University of York, Gregory is the son of an actress and an opera chorus-line singer...
– synthesizer - Mat Bartram – assistant engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
- David BascombeDavid BascombeDavid Bascombe is an English music producer and mix engineer. He has worked with many bands and musicians, such as Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode and Suede.-Selected engineering, production, mixing and remixing:*Tears for Fears - Songs From the Big Chair...
– mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
(track 5); vocal arrangement (track 11) - Nick Batt – synthesizer (tracks 1, 3, 4, 8, 11); additional programmingProgramming (music)Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices, often sequencers or computer programs, to generate music. Programming is used in nearly all forms of electronic music and in most hip hop music since the 1990s. It is also frequently used in modern pop and rock...
(tracks 1–4, 6–11) - Alex Dromgoole – assistant engineer (tracks 1–4, 6–8, 11)
- Richard Edgeler – assistant engineer (tracks 9, 10)
- David Emery – assistant engineer (tracks 1–4, 6–8, 11)
- Steve Evans – additional engineer (track 3)
- Lee Groves – additional programming (tracks 1–4, 7)
- Nick IngmanNick IngmanNicholas Ingman is an orchestra conductor and composer.Early recordings include:*'Big Beat' *'The Love Album' *'Terminator'...
– orchestraOrchestraAn orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
lead, string arrangementsString sectionThe string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses... - Ted JensenTed JensenTed Jensen is an American recording engineer. Jensen is the chief mastering engineer at Sterling Sound. He started his career as a mastering engineer in 1976 and is currently the most active Mastering Engineer in the industry...
– masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced... - Charlie JonesCharlie Jones (musician)Charlie Jones is a British bassist, songwriter and record producer. He has toured and recorded with Robert Plant, Page and Plant, The Strange Sensation, Goldfrapp and many others. He was married to Robert Plant's daughter Carmen Plant, they divorced in 2010....
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(tracks 1–3, 6, 7)
- Ross Kirton – photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
- Mat MaitlandMat MaitlandMat Maitland is an English art director and visual artist who lives in London.-Career:Born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, he studied design in his home town and then at Croydon College. He started his career at WEA in the early 1990s as a designer...
– art direction - Daniel Miller – synthesizer (track 3)
- Ewan PearsonEwan PearsonEwan Pearson is an English electronic music producer/remixer who works under various aliases including Maas, Sulky Pup, Villa America, World of Apples, and Dirtbox. He is also in Partial Arts with Al Usher. He has remixed for artists such as Cortney Tidwell, Seelenluft, Ladytron, Depeche Mode,...
– additional programming (track 3) - Dave Power – additional drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
(track 3) - Tim Roe – assistant engineer (tracks 5, 11)
- Gerard Saint – art direction
- Mark "Spike" StentMark StentMark 'Spike' Stent is a British record producer, and audio engineer who has worked with The KLF, Björk, Keane, Depeche Mode, Muse, Erasure, Hard-Fi, Massive Attack, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, Marilyn Manson, Pet Shop Boys, Dave Matthews, No Doubt/Gwen Stefani, CSS, Beth Orton,...
– mixing (tracks 1–4, 6–8, 11) - Rachel Thomas – set designScenic designScenic design is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with M.F.A...
- Gary Thomasat – engineer
- Adrian UtleyAdrian UtleyAdrian Francis Utley is an English musician and a member of the band Portishead.-Biography:Utley is self-taught on guitar, bass and keyboards, and played professionally from the age of 18 in working men's clubs, night clubs, holiday camps, and in cabaret, backing soul artists...
– guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
(tracks 1, 9); bass (track 9) - Paul "P-Dub" Walton – mixing
- Jeremy Wheatley – mixing (tracks 9, 10)
- Gavyn Wright – string conductorConductingConducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
Weekly charts
| Chart (2005) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
23 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 33 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... (Flanders) |
16 |
| Belgian Albums Chart Ultratop 50 Ultratop 50 singles, often just Ultratop 50, is the weekly chart of fifty best-selling singles in Flanders, Belgium, and is produced and published by the Ultratop organization. The chart has existed since March 31, 1995... (Wallonia) |
22 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
36 |
| European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100... |
6 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
43 |
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
26 |
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
9 |
| Italian Albums Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
36 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
35 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
36 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 50 |
| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
29 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
2 |
| Chart (2006) | Peak position |
| Canadian Albums Chart Canadian Albums Chart The Canadian Albums Chart is the official album sales chart in Canada. It is compiled every Wednesday by U.S.-based music sales tracking company Nielsen Soundscan, and published every Thursday by Jam! Canoe and Billboard, along with its sister charts the Canadian Singles Chart and the Canadian BDS... |
88 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
138 |
| US Top Electronic Albums | 5 |
| US Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
3 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification |
|---|---|
| Ireland Irish Recorded Music Association Irish Recorded Music Association is the Irish record industry association. IRMA is a non-profit association set up to manage and control the music industry in the Republic of Ireland.-Goals and activities:... |
Gold |
| United Kingdom British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
Platinum |
Year-end charts
| Chart (2005) | Position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart | 76 |
Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Format(s) | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 17 August 2005 | EMI Music Japan | CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
TOCP-66432 |
| United Kingdom | 22 August 2005 | Mute Records Mute Records Mute is an independent record label based in the UK. It was founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller and featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Goldfrapp, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure and Fad Gadget.-Beginnings:... |
CD, CD+DVD DVD A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.... , LP LP record The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... , digital download |
STUMM250 |
| Europe | CD, digital download | |||
| United Kingdom | 5 December 2005 | UMD Universal Media Disc The Universal Media Disc is an optical disc medium developed by Sony for use on their PlayStation Portable handheld gaming and multimedia platform... |
||
| United States | 7 March 2006 | CD, CD/DVD, digital download | 9296-2 |
External links
- Supernature at MetacriticMetacriticMetacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...