Lovely Head - Goldfrapp - Felt Mountain (2000, Mute)

I fool myself to sleep and dream

Nobody’s here, no-one but me

So cool, you’re hardly there

Why can’t this be killing you?

After signing a contract with Mute Records in 1999, Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory spent six months in a rented bungalow in the Wiltshire countryside working together. Alison found the process very difficult, as she was not being used to composing with others, and was often alone and disturbed by the mice and insects in the bungalow. She ended up pouring this experience into music, and the result is this album, Felt Mountain. It draws a lot from the british trip-hop scene, which was just starting to wind down at the time this album was made, but adds 1960’s pop and folk elements, and is also heavily influenced by the soundscapes in movies such as Dr No, Goldfinger and Polanski’s Cul-de-sac.