Goldfrapp’s Will Gregory On Their Enduring Partnership

For almost two decades, Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, known together as Goldfrapp, have blazed the trail to bring their coalition of glam rock and synthpop out of the underground London club scene and into the mainstream.

Since their formation in 1999, the pair have produced six widely celebrated albums, with their seventh, Silver Eye, due for release this week. “Right from the beginning I knew Alison was special,” says Gregory. “We were both not what you’d call ‘straight out of the box’. But at first we both had other lives within music, and we were both quite wary about trying to do something before we’d checked each other out a bit.

“I think that the way we did that was to send each other tapes – yes, I think they might have been actual cassette tapes, but I can’t remember for sure!” he laughs. “And looking back, I think that was a good thing to do, because we both really liked each other’s musical taste before we ever made any music together. But that was definitely the beginning. However, it was years before we actually got in a room together to try to write something.”

As the son of an actress and operatic chorus line singer, producer and composer, Gregory says music has always been a part of his life. He studied music at university, and throughout his 20s he performed and recorded with Tears For Fears. Meanwhile, vocalist Goldfrapp’s recording debut was a feature on UK electronic duo Orbital’s 1994 release, Snivilisation.

“I think that we were, and are, two people who are so different that there’s no danger of our duplicating each other’s skills – and I think that’s a very good way to be,” Gregory says. “If you’re a writing duo you need to be kind of chalk and cheese. That way you get more than either one of you could have done on your own. We’re like oil and water, but somehow it works – it becomes margarine!”

Silver Eye (the name is a reference to the moon) is a return to the Goldfrapp of more than a decade ago, with darker, heavier sound waves pulsating throughout. In a clear departure from 2013’s Tales Of Us, which critics praised for its use of guitars, piano and strings, this time around Gregory says they pushed themselves to create something worth the wait.

“We’ve been allowing ourselves to be slightly pleased, because it did take a bit longer than some of the others. As it stands, we’ve written a lot of songs now and we’d hate the idea of repeating ourselves or just going through the motions.

“There’s no desire to turn a handle and watch a song churn out, but the more songs you write, the more danger you can find yourself in. Sometimes we’d just go for it, and, to our dismay, we’d find ourselves on the same road we were two albums ago. So we just had to be patient and hope that something would occur to make us sit up and go, ‘Oh, that’s new! That’s something we haven’t done before.’ That did take a little bit longer this time, and honestly, we probably wrote quite a lot of songs that ended up in the garbage, never to be seen again – but that’s how it is.”

In the past, Gregory and Goldfrapp have described their songwriting relationship as a “democracy”, with each one playing to their strengths. “Alison often comes up with the melodies and I like to focus on the arrangements,” says Gregory.

It’s a well-worn formula that suits their unique talents, and it appears that lately the singer has discovered another creative outlet.

“Alison has a formidable visual side to her, so for this album she’s landed the job of mustering forces to get the visual side of it sorted,” says Gregory. “Often while we’re in the recording studio, and I’m having to do sort of housekeeping jobs with the music, Alison will be sketching things or painting – and now she’s into photography. In fact, she’s recently become a professional photographer. She taught herself a lot and she’s done courses, so I said to her, ‘Why don’t you take the photographs this time? Why don’t you do the video?’ And so she did. She did all the artwork for the album and chose the location for the video clip for our first single, ‘Anymore’. Alison cast the extras and chose the people to work with and the costumes, and then got out there with a camera and made it happen. She’s very clever.”

As Goldfrapp continue to explore new creative territory, both sonically and visually, Gregory says they’re planning something special for a one-off Australian show as part of Sydney’s Vivid Festival in May.

“It’s going to be incredible for us to come back as part of our world tour, and we’re working on a new show. We always love to do something different, and I think this time it’s going to be more uptempo, with sizzling synths. It’s going to be quite full on – it’s not going to be a shy and retiring incarnation. We’re planning to go out all guns blazing.”

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