Alison Goldfrapp: Flux review – Melody and meaning evaporate in mid-tempo mizzle

“I wanna live as a fantasy,” sighs Alison Goldfrapp on “Find Xanadu”, the lead single from her second album, Flux. Her vaporous vocal coats the electro-pop pulse with a fine mist of her trademark sexy shimmer. At times, the airy diffusion of these 10 new songs has the power to make the listener similarly, blissfully weightless. But at others, the melodies and meanings seem to evaporate in the mid-tempo mizzle.

Interviewed for the release of her solo debut,The Love Invention (2023), Goldfrapp said she’d taken a break from working with her bandmate Will Gregory because their partnership had become “too comfortable and familiar”. She wanted to challenge herself with something new. That’s all well and good, but it’s disconcerting that she has (so far) sounded less in control of her solo work than she does on the joint venture. Although both the solid, retro stylings of The Love Invention and the more delicately dreamy Flux contain some lovely melodies and beautifully detailed production, the woman herself seems less edgily present than she while haunting 2000’s “Lovely Head” or on 2003’s “Strict Machine”. Despite all her S&M stage theatrics, it does leave you wondering if Gregory’s the kinky one after all.