#its a fucking masterclass in unique animation

[ahndor]

spiderverse thoughts under the cut cause. holy fuck. spoilers abviously

• one of the best movies i have ever seen. legitimately. having a hard time forming coherent thoughts about it right now

• shameik moore’s voice acting is phenomenal. out of this world. you can feel every ounce of miles’s emotions through his performance

• SO MANY REFERENCES!!! off the top of my head: andrew garfield’s spiderman, toby maguire’s spiderman, donald glover as the prowler, ps4 spiderman, animated tasm spiderman, PS2 SPIDERMAN!!!!!

• about the love triangle. it wasnt as big of a thing as everyone was afraid it was gonna be (thank god) and it seemed like hobie had no interest in gwen at all really?? (in fact he seemed more interested in miles but i DIGRESS—) like he really just seemed like a friend to her but because miles is 15 and like. in love he overthinks things. small win for the love triangle hater community (me)

• on that note. hobie. fucking. brown. the way he’s animated was nuts, he was so unique yet he fit right in with the rest of the cast. his characterization, the anarchism, his lil quips, him and mayday?? and the way he helped miles go against miguel and eventually helped gwen too?? i cannot WAIT to see him in beyond the spiderverse

• PENI IS BACK!!!! AND SHE GOT A NEW BOT!!!!

• miles being the original anomaly omg. it makes so much sense but i NEVER would have guessed that’s part of why everyone hates him (also i KNEW the hunt for miles would have something to do with jefferson’s death. i have receipts that i predicted that MONTHS AGO!!!!)

• they knew what they were doing when they designed miguel ohhhhhmygod. also i hope we get to see more of his vampire qualities in beyond the spiderverse

• THE BEYOND THE SPIDERVERSE SQUAD IS SO SICK. gwen, peter b (and mayday), pavitr, hobie, spider-byte, spider-noir, spider-ham, and peni!!!!! THE COOLEST SPIDER PEOPLE

• literally cant wait for beyond the spiderverse. it might kill me to wait for beyond the spiderverse

[pippenpaddlopsicopolisthethird]

Top 5 anime you think are criminally underrated!

This is a really good question, and it was VERY difficult to keep myself to only 5. These are all anime that I think deserve a much wider viewership! (Plus five more!)

I ended up spending waaayyyy longer on this than I thought, I can’t imagine how much I would have written if you’d said top 10. I can literally talk about anime forever. Here’s some I wholeheartedly recommend.

1. Shojo Kageki Revue Starlight (Action, drama, romance)

This is my newest love, as of yesterday, when I binged the whole thing. The best way I can describe it is by mashing up other anime. Take Revolutionary Girl Utena, iron out about three layers of metaphor, and trim off all of the dark themes related to the Rose Bride. Then throw it in a blender with Madoka Magica and Love Live!, add half a cup of Gay Concentrate, and serve up the result: A character-driven drama about girls at a performing arts school, who settle their differences in magical-girl-fantasy duels styled as impossibly gorgeous theatrical stage-combat musical numbers. Beyond the flash and high concept, there’s a well-written cast, solid emotional core, and really engaging plot.

2. The Eccentric Family (Drama, comedy)

This show is my favorite genre of fantasy; mythical creatures living in the modern world, right under humans’ noses. In this series, humans only know tanuki as the cute little raccoon-dogs, but tanuki are really sentient shapeshifters whose goals are to outsmart the humans who live in the cities, pester the tengu who rule the heavens, live a life of freedom and trickery, and not end up on the inside of a hunter’s trap. The story follows a family of a mother and four sons whose widely-respected father was killed to end up in a human’s hot pot, as they try to enjoy their lives, live up to his imposing reputation, and unravel the increasingly suspicious circumstances of his death.

I have called this one “deceptively light-hearted” when describing it. My friend got halfway through the first season and came back to me with the verdict, “consider me fucking deceived.” This show has weight and does not pull its emotional punches, but neither does it ever stumble into becoming grimdark. Its worldbuilding is solid and the characters are all fantastically developed. Plus I wrote a whole post about one of the main antagonists(?) who I hadn’t even mentioned here.

3. Dennou Coil (Mystery, sci-fi)

Dennou Coil is a masterclass in worldbuilding, in my opinion. It’s a near-future sci-fi world, basically if Google Glass had taken off and become as common as cell phones are today. Many people don’t see the real world, they see the virtual textures of the world as they’re rendered through the glasses. Kids in one city have learned to mess around with codes, collecting tradeable fragments that break off the edges where the system glitches, chasing viruses that hide in pockets of obselete code in abandoned areas of the city where the software doesn’t get updated often. They spend their time after school saving virtual pets from being accidentally deleted by the city’s antivirus, trading tall tales about kids who get caught by the antivirus and get their glasses bricked, and spinning urban legends about ghosts waiting just behind anything that’s visibly rendered, waiting to steal kids when they least expect it. Every detail they introduce is critical to laying the foundation for the mystery that forms the show’s plot.

Everything about this world feels real in a way I’ve never seen in a sci-fi anime. It’s all grounded in a clear understanding of programming, and lives by show-don’t-tell. The stakes aren’t life-and-death; the kids tagging glitches like graffiti to distract the city’s antivirus software are only at risk of ruining their glasses, at least at first. The plot and escalation is perfectly-paced, and the mystery is so satisfying to piece together as it unfolds.

4. ID:Invaded (Sci-fi, action, thriller, murder mystery)

This show is like Psycho-Pass meets Silence of the Lambs. To catch a serial killer, you need to think like a killer, and nobody does that better than killers. A contraption called an “id well” can manifest an uncaught killer’s unconscious mind as a bizarre, unique, deadly terrain driven by stream-of-consciousness, and convicted murderers turned “detectives” dive into these wells to try to solve the mystery each well presents and discern the identity of other killers before they can strike again.

This show is a tightly-written, perfectly paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller. The two layers of mysteries inside and outside of the wells balance high-octane, big-screen action with tight, tense realism. Plus the soundtrack is an absolute banger.

5. Ping Pong the Animation (drama, sports)

Imagine if I told you that there was a show that, in 11 episodes, unpacked how patterns of relationships are repeated across generations, how the tradeoff between talent, practice, and who you are outside of your achievements can scar the spirits of kids, and what it feels like to wrestle with the tension between your core understanding of yourself and how others expect you to be. Imagine if I told you that every major character goes through massive restructurings of their fundamental sense of self and how they see others, and that every single arc comes to a well-rounded and satisfying end. Imagine if the animation style pushed the limits of both realism and absurdity, landing somewhere between rotoscoping and caricature, pushing the impact of action and stretching the character’s expressiveness without betraying faces that are animated like real human people. Imagine that it had a dub so fantastic that it sits next to Baccano and Cowboy Bebop in my mind, shows where the cast threw themselves into their roles with their whole hearts.

Now imagine that I told you that this story is told in the context of high schoolers playing ping pong, and that it’s arguably the best show I’ve ever seen. Go watch this show.

[centrally-unplanned]

Random question: how do you feel about shounen anime?

I feel ~fine about shounen anime as a whole? I do think about genres but I tend to focus on individual works and will watch anything from any genre as a result.

Overall I do struggle a bit with shounen's addiction to the action spectacle - I saturate quickly on fight scenes and so I look for them to either progress the narrative, be intellectually engaging on the mechanics or at least be visually unique, and a lot of shows don't hit that threshold. Others definitely have a higher tolerance, which is fine, it just means the median show is aiming for a different market than me.

Its certainly not all shows though - Mob Pyscho is the most recent shounen anime that is a masterclass in how to do the genre well - constantly visually inventive, fun and hilarious character dynamics in each plot, and always underscored by the central conceit of Mob being ludicrously stronger than everyone else in existence such that the action scenes are never about what you think they are. Kill la Kill is the literal definition of This Fucks and is absolutely hilarious in its very animation, which is a tall order that Imaishi/Trigger excels at. And of course classics like Samurai Champloo abound that are the peak of certain aesthetics.

I have definitely find less (definitely not zero, but less) western media that connects with me these days, and I think at lot of that has to do with a narrowing aesthetic palette that they are permitted to pull from. Shounen anime is one of those places where a whole swatch of aesthetics western media fails to deliver on these days is being perfected, particularly in the "Sakuga Revolution" era of today with more and more focus on short, blazingly-high impact scenes that have a universal appeal even outside of the context of their shows. I may struggle with some shounen but the ~5% that truly excels can justify the struggle.

[tribow]

So I watched Blade of the Immortal

Specifically the 2019 ONA release of this story by LIDENFILMS. This anime probably flew under literally everyone's radar because this anime was on Amazon of all places. I haven't read the original series or watched the original anime, but I have heard of its legacy. People seem to hold up Blade of the Immortal to high regards.

The 2019 adaption of Blade of the Immortal is certainly good. I wouldn't call it masterclass storytelling, but the anime can become very compelling to watch. Multiple characters go through some really cool development, especially for the main character, Rin. The actual immortal in the story plays a supporting role in the narrative most of the time, which was surprising.

Speaking of which, this story does some really unique stuff with the immortality trope that I haven't seen anywhere else. The animation is also really detailed. The advantage of animating an ONA is that you don't really need to adhere to the schedule of a television broadcast. There's some real complicated character designs that need to be animated here and it looks great.

HOWEVER, this is not an anime I can easily recommend despite how good it is. There's some hurdles you will need to be able to get over to watch this anime and it warns you at that start of each episode. For a little bit of context, this anime takes place in medievil Japan. I know enough about japanese history to know that being a woman in that era was not a good time.

There's plenty of rape and sexual assault in this anime. The good news is that this anime does not glorify it and is condemning it more than anything. It's used as a narrative tool and to shock you into understanding that medievil Japan is fucked up. This isn't like other anime/hentai where the offender just gets away with it and the women get treated like an object and it doesn't have an effect on the characters or narrative. I can praise this anime for not glorifying sexual assault like so much japanese media does, (Side note: This is a SERIOUS problem with Japan) but it is going to make you uncomfortable. In fact, it wants you to be uncomfortable, the anime clearly communicates that rape and sexual assault is terrible and you need to be okay with watching characters experience these horrifying scenarios.

The second hurdle is the gore in this anime. It's not just blood spraying everywhere, there's some very detailed depictions of very severe injuries. The brutality is used as a narrative tool of course, but I mean it when I say it's detailed. The animation really sells the impact of what's happening. I'd compare it to how Mortal Kombat depicts its violence, just without the bones shattering.

The third hurdle is whether or not you have epilepsy. The animation is great, but the animation direction has some red and white flashing going on. It's not super frequent, but it's enough to make me concerned about it.

If you can get past these hurdles then I'd recommend this anime for sure, however, this isn't a masterpiece. The biggest issue the anime has is the lightning fast pacing. You need to memorize the names and faces of characters because they will change their appearance without warning. Many characters have 0 introduction and will absolutely be relevant later on. The anime is not going to make sure you understand what's happening, so you might have to pause and take a minute to digest what is going on at times.

Also, the first 3 episodes actually suck. The 1st one is edgy as hell and the 2nd episode has very awkwardly timed comedy that does not contrast well with the 1st episode. (Side note: The comedy is usually timed well to break up the terrible shit the characters have to go through and some characters are clearly just trying to cope). 3rd episode brings back the edge, but the rest of the anime picks itself up and does great without stumbling too hard.

Sitting through it is worth it, the anime ends off on a really good note that wraps up everything very nicely. It's really cool to see an anime that actually has an ending that doesn't ruin anything. Seriously, the final episode has some incredible shit in it. Many characters have amazing developement as well (a couple dont, but they dont drag the story down at all). There's a lot of great things I can say about the characters that I won't elaborate on because this post is long enough already.

I do need to talk about Manji a little bit though. This anime isn't some kind of power fantasy, Manji is not overpowered in the slightest despite being immortal. My guy gets his ass kicked several times even if he ends up winning. I love that he isn't written to be the most powerful like most immortals would be. It's really interesting to see an immortal go through a lot of physical struggles instead of asserting their immortal dominance on the rest of the cast.

This is a real good anime and it's worth the watch, just, be aware of what you're getting into. Blade of the Immortal won't pull its punches and it's not going to be a casual watch. It gives you a lot to think about over its runtime. This anime will be in my head for a while.

[radramblog]

Top 5 Games, ever...?

This was sort of on my mind, considering the recent GOTY post I made. Come explore the hyperfixations that managed to stick around long enough to be my top 5 list. 

5. Uhhhhhh

So turns out I haven’t figured out what number 5 is yet. I suppose instead I’ve got to split it among the honourable mentions, huh.

Kirby Super Star Ultra is probably the best game from the GBA/DS era of the series and is just a blast to play. It introduced Masked Dedede, and all the banging music and memes that come with it, and probably deserves a spot here just for that.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth removes all the awkward Flash Stuff from the excellent original, and adds so, so much more content- the game’s final expansion still isn’t out yet as of writing but even now there’s just so much to unlock. While some aspects of the game can be pretty unforgiving, you probably aren’t going to be exposed to the worst of it unless you get into it pretty hardcore, and if you do, you’ll get used to it. It’s a roguelike, after all.

Speaking of roguelikes, FTL: Faster than Light is chaotic yet serene, brutal but fair, and a bunch of other pretentious dichotomies wrapped into a neat little bow. It takes some getting used to the mechanics, but once you get the hang of it, building your little ship up and up in the face of all odds is extremely satisfying. Have fun dying hopefully not too many times.

SPEAKING of permadeath, Realm of the Mad God gets a spot here just out of sheer hours I’ve spent with it. After a messy few years with a not-so-great owner lead me to dropping the game, it seems finally to have recovered and has devs and community that actually freaking care about it, which is nice. Also, it’s free, and the recent transition to unity has the game looking better and playing smoother than 12-year-old me could ever have dreamed of.

Terraria isn’t just 2D Minecraft btw, its actually more of an RPG/Metroidvania thing, you probably know at this point, but its pretty good hey. Still haven’t fully dove into 1.4 but considering I thought Red was done at 1.1 I’m not complaining with what I have played.

 4. Fallout: New Vegas

(...ish??)

I’d argue that between the primitiveness of the original Fallout games (I’ve tried to get into them, but I just can’t) and how…meh… the other Bethesda ones are, New Vegas is the only one in the series to stand up strong. Obsidian’s excellent writing and tweaks to the gameplay of 3 make New Vegas feel like an actual world, rich and characterised, which was something I found lacking in previous open-world RPGs I’d played up until that point (which admittedly might just have been Skyrim). It’s a game that challenges you to make choices that actually matter for more than the mere moments of an altered dialogue tree, both in dialogue and character building, which helps make the game actually replayable. It is also the first game in a long time that really sold the idea of DLC on me, seeing as each of the game���s 4 expansions adds an entire new region of world with its own stories and unique gameplay, tying together with the main plot but standing on their own. I am excluding Gun Runner’s Arsenal from this for obvious reasons, though it isn’t like GRA is a bad DLC or anything- on the contrary, the sheer scope of modifications and munitions makes playing a repair/science-based character incredibly fulfilling- but it just isn’t at the same scope as the other 4 (Courier’s stash barely counts seeing as its just oops! All preorder bonuses).

New Vegas is one of the few games I have actually 100% completed, achievements and all, but I’m still pretty sure there are bits I’ve missed, paths I haven’t taken, characters I haven’t talked to. Despite its inhospitability, the Mojave is always a comfortable place to return to.

 3. VA-11 Hall-A

(Hey look, my phone background)

Vallhalla is a masterclass in storytelling, atmosphere, and aesthetic. Like all good cyberpunk dystopias, you get themes of class and transhumanism and artificial intelligence, but they aren’t the point of Vallhalla. Through the window and lens of cyberpunk and PC98 nostalgia is focussed a surprisingly human story centred around the protagonist, Jill, which through multiple replays still hits me in the feels just so. Of course, Jill’s story is not the only one being discussed, as every single patron of the bar has their own life going on, and the glimpses we get imply a rich, often interconnected, world. Glitch City is, frankly, a shithole, and it’s not like you don’t get some assholes coming into the bar while you’re working it. The first patron you serve, in fact, is a great example of this- Donovan D. Dawson, essentially a parody of J. Jonah Jameson, is a colossal prick and knows it- but its clear he has his own system of morals and it is mentioned that he’s excellent at his job, much as he gripes about it. He’s rude and more than a little sexist, but frustratingly charismatic and authoritative, and he’s just one of many people who show up throughout the game. Vallhalla is the perfect game to sit down, grab your preferred beverage, and just relax with.

 2. Total Annihilation

(This image is on the steam page for this one, despite blatantly not being from vanilla TA)

I think I actually need to explain this one. Total Annihilation was a game released in 1997 made largely by Chuck Taylor, who would later go on to produce spiritual successor Supreme Commander. It’s an RTS game featuring exclusively robotic units with a fairly chunky aesthetic, allowing the visuals to age better than some, and a fully orchestrated soundtrack by Jeremy Soule, who would later go on to do work on a whole bunch of stuff, most notably Skyrim.

Total Annihilation is an intensely nostalgic game for me, being one of the first games I ever got to play as a kid outside of edutainment stuff, and I’d argue still holds up today (especially with the excellent Escalation mod). What it lacks in story (it’s pretty basic, but functional) it makes up for being miles ahead of its time mechanically, being the first (?) RTS to function in 3 dimensions- heights of things actually matter, hills exist and certain units climb them better than others, shooting down airplanes is difficult without anti-air but possible if you aim *just* right. While appearing pretty similar and having largely analogous units, the two factions of Arm and Core are well fleshed-out in terms of aesthetic and playstyle- Arm preferring fast and cheap equivalents to Core’s slow but powerful- and the unit variety is sufficient that strategies can vary wildly based on the map. Both campaigns as well as those from the game’s expansions are challenging, but satisfying, limiting the units you can produce to force exploration of different playstyles.

Total Annihilation isn’t something I tend to binge play for hours anymore, but I’ll pick it up for a bit every so often, and I don’t see that stopping for a long time (especially due to the recent steam release).

 1. Pokémon Emerald

(At the top, where it belongs)

Yeah, this was inevitable. Pokémon is my favourite series ever; Emerald is my favourite in the series. Go figure.

Emerald, being the final game for the franchise’s days on the Game Boy, reflects everything Game Freak had learned in the first 3 generations of the series’ history. The game’s balance is challenging but fair, never spiking so tough that it is insurmountable but never holding your hand either. The AI opponents are throwing odd combinations of mons and moves at you from every corner, double battles are everywhere but rarely mandatory, and the variety of available mon both before and during the postgame is excellent. The added features on top of Ruby and Sapphire are great- Battle Tents serve to replace 3 of the contest halls (they should have all been under one roof to begin with) and provide a taste of what would later be available in the Battle Frontier. The Frontier is probably the single most expansive and challenging postgame in any Pokémon game, providing the game with a longevity that is sorely needed due to the inaccessibility of Pre-DS multiplayer. The game also manages to tie together the plot of both Ruby and Sapphire into something that feels natural, and provides the series’ first ever actual cutscene, which felt a lot cooler at the time than it sounds now. The return of animated sprites gives the Pokémon a level of life far beyond the static sprites of RSFRLG, and in my eyes wouldn’t feel the same until Black and White several years later. The return of the Pokégear phone in the form of Match Call, as irritating as it is to some, makes the world feel alive in a way that Sinnoh and Kanto probably never will, in addition to making grinding a fair bit less tedious and more beneficial. It is, altogether, probably the perfect Pokémon experience, and in my opinion only one other game comes close (its Platinum).

Oh also, they got rid of the font from Ruby and Sapphire, thank fuck, that shit is atrocious.

[lovejustforaday]

Favourite Albums Review - Seventh Tree by Goldfrapp

Seventh Tree - Goldfrapp

Main Genres: Folktronica, Indie Pop, Art Pop

A decent sampling of: Dream Pop, Chamber Folk, Neo-Psychedelia, Baroque Pop

“木漏れ日”, or “Komorebi”, is a word that only exists in Japanese. It describes the mystifying visual phenomenon that occurs when sunlight passes through a canopy of trees. Light filters through the leaves and changes slightly in hue according to the colour of the leaves.

At its core, Seventh Tree feels like a musical interpretation of the komorebi phenomenon. Shimmering in a haze of green and golden light, Goldfrapp’s fourth and greatest LP is a lush, fleeting, and pastoral record. With airy sound production and a prevailing sense of the ephemeral, the album pairs beautifully with the transition from Summer to Autumn. Likewise, I make sure to revisit it every year during the month of September, and every time I am once again completely floored by just how any group of artists could ever achieve and maintain such a perfect sound.

Goldfrapp’s debut was undoubtedly a hard act to follow. The British duo of Will Gregory and Alison Goldfrapp came on to the scene with Felt Mountain, an unexpected masterpiece marked by atmospheric alien worlds achieved via surreal studio sounds, filtered through film noir and golden age Hollywood aesthetics. The album went Gold in the U.K. and was even shortlisted for a Mercury Prize.

But where to go from there? Goldfrapp’s initial response to their immediate success, as well as their initial approach in attempting to exceed the heights of their debut, was to amp up the fun factor of their music tenfold.

Thus, the follow-up records Black Cherry and Supernature were mostly sassy electroclash romps chock-full of sexual innuendo (especially Black Cherry) and sing-along pop hooks (especially Supernature).  Very solid records in their own right, yielding some excellent singles like “Twist” and “Ooh La La”, but ultimately lacking the consistency and grandeur of Felt Mountain.

But then something great happened.

Alison and Will had long been inspired by nature and especially animals as symbolic motifs throughout their career. But for their fourth record, Goldfrapp decided for the first time to make an album that actually sounded like it came from the natural world. They allowed their trademark electronic inventions to take on a more supportive role, blending into the background seamlessly with gentle acoustic instruments, creating a uniquely harmonious folktronica sound.

The lyrics also take on a much more prominent role than on their previous records, delving deep into themes of innocence, tragedy, superficiality, and the ever-changing state of nature. Revealing both elements of poetic sadness and dark humour inherent to the many unfortunate conditions of human behaviour, Alison is found pondering over topics such as plastic surgery (”Clowns”) and cults (”Happiness”) throughout the course of the album.

The title Seventh Tree itself came to Alison in a cryptic dream. Visually and musically, the duo became particularly inspired by woodland imagery, as well as the symbol of the harlequin, a free-spirited and whimsical character found in traditional Italian theatre. These influences translate to an atmosphere on the album that feels elusive, wispy, and at times even day drunk.

“Clowns” introduces the sensory world of Seventh Tree with the record’s purest, most delicate folk song. Accompanied by faint swells of chamber strings over a steady and serene acoustic guitar riff, Alison Goldfrapp just barely enunciates her way through slurred, childlike speech, with similes about fake breast implants and clown balloons. The narrator here is almost certainly a little girl, failing to understand the reasons why an older woman would want to undergo surgery just in order to gain bigger breasts, thus emphasizing the blissful naivety of childhood that can never truly be recovered by an adult. More than any other track on the record, “Clowns” embodies the very essence of Seventh Tree, presenting a sylvan vignette that captures a very simple moment of human vulnerability.

The following track “Little Bird” introduces synthesized elements, starting off soft and sweet before blooming into a rippling display of psychedelic folktronica, with words inspired by the surrealist poetry of English artist Edward Lear.

“Happiness” is a carnival world of sunshine baroque pop appearing almost too picturesque, with stomping parades of dizzying horns and synths. The entire song presents a brilliantly perverse and whimsical satire of the ways in which cults advertise themselves in order to prey on lost and impressionable people. Alison’s promises of everlasting happiness are soft and enticing, but ultimately betrayed by the sinister undertones of her phrasing; you can practically visualize her forced smile and a morphine injection needle being clenched in the fist that she hides behind her back.

“Eat Yourself” sees Alison revisiting the vocal stylings of “Clowns” with a sauntering folk tune that reverberates like the footsteps of a gentle forest giant. Touching on feelings of loss, the title refers to one of the song’s only decipherable lines (without the use of liner notes), offering a particularly grim sentiment: “If you don’t eat yourself no doubt the pain will instead”.

Seventh Tree’s most sober undertaking is “Some People”, an indie pop carol that gradually forms a chiming ecosystem of sounds around a series of golden piano chords. It also serves as the definitive representation of the record’s central themes, listing off human vices and eccentricities with a listless, breezy attitude, as if the duo are accepting all of the good, the bad, and the strange things in the world.

And then, with all the stillness of an early morning mist, “A&E” merges with the listener’s imagination. A sentimental love song on its surface, this piece actually tells the story of a miserable, heartbroken woman who wakes up in a hospital bed, slowly remembering the details of the night before when she had attempted to overdose on pills and kill herself. It alll feels incredibly real and tangible, the way it so vividly captures the state of having a mental “reset” in the flow of the mind's stream of consciousness.

Precious few moments in music have ever struck me so profoundly as did the moment when I realized what kind of story Alison had been weaving on this track. With the brilliant execution of its concept in marriage with some the most crystal clear and subtly detailed production I have ever heard, this track earns the title of being my favourite Goldfrapp song. Altogether, “A&E” is a dreamy and sweetly cruel ballad that manages to embody the very zenith of story-telling through songwriting.

Things take a lighter turn for the last three tracks. “Cologne Cerrone Houdini” is an ornate psychedelic trip that pays musical homage to the sound of 60s hippie culture and the summer of love (as do many tracks here, to varying degrees).

Penultimate track “Caravan Girl” is a great big pop song celebrating wanderlust, with an insanely euphoric grand finale of exhilarating snare drums and a wave of soaring crisp bit-pop synthesizers, like 8bit butterflies flying across a 4k blue sky. Keyword for the production on that last part of the song is “orgasmic”.

Things are wrapped up quite nicely with “Monster Love”, an all-too-tender, folky dream pop serenade of mixed feelings that Alison Goldfrapp dedicates to her time on tour as an artist, particularly reflecting on her time in the glamorous but shallow world of Hollywood. It’s a very fitting ending; the song ties together the lyrical commentary and the musical spirit of Seventh Tree, retreating back into the ether with its closing lines “Everything comes around / Bringing us back again / Here is where we start / And where we end”.

Seventh Tree is my personal gold standard for an album listening experience. The record is its own masterclass in creating a diverse but cohesive sonic world, with songs that are varied but thematically linked, and with textural motifs that are revisited in many different ways over the course of the album. Will Gregory is a stellar lead producer; the man is clearly a master of detailed perfectionism, and this record in particular still sounds fucking immaculate 13 years later. Alison Goldfrapp herself proves that she is a wise and contemplative spirit with the beautiful voice of an immortal forest faerie.

On some days, this is my favourite record ever (the days when it isn’t that other one). Give this a listen if you haven’t already. Allow yourself to be cast in the verdant light and the mystifying shade of the towering Seventh Tree.

10/10

highlights: “A&E”, “Clowns”, “Happiness”, “Eat Yourself”, “Caravan Girl”, “Little Bird”, “Some People”, “Cologne Cerrone Houdini”, “Monster Love”, “Road To Somewhere” i.e. everything