Limited deluxe two disc (CD + PAL/Region 0 DVD) edition of this 2008 release, the fourth studio album by the Electronic duo. This deluxe package contains a bonus DVD featuring a documentary, 'A&E' music video and a Q&A session, presented in card picture sleeves housed in a deluxe clamshell picture box complete with handwritten lyric book, fold out poster and postcards. Seventh Tree sees the duo return to the more ethereal feel of their debut Felt Mountain as opposed the glitter glamour of Supernature. Here they use elements of Folk and Ambient music, and display influence from Gallic stars such Air and Serge Gainsbourg, all resulting in a warm, delicate, irresistible album. Features 10 tracks including the single 'A&E'. Mute.Seventh Tree unveils an Alison Goldfrapp quite different to the one we saw on her career highpoint to date, 2005's Supernature. Whereas that album was grandiose, glammy, and almost aggressive in its brash, thrusting sexuality, Goldfrapp's fourth album is no less sensual, but rather more subtle in its approach. Recorded with longtime collaborator Will Gregory out in rural Somerset, Seventh Tree feels like an attempt to fuse the pagan folk of cult English horror classic The Wicker Man< to a lush backdrop of woozy electronics and a restrained orchestral sweep reminiscent of '70s-era Serge Gainsbourg. In practise, this means much of Seventh Tree goes where earlier Gainsbourg disciples such as Air have gone before: chilled-out, soporific electronica with a light organic edge. Luckily, Goldfrapp remains a compelling enough figure to keep matters on the right side of ethereal: the gorgeous "Clowns" imagines the Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser guesting on some long-forgotten Nick Drake out-take, rustic folk with an all-but-indecipherable vocal and an undercurrent of desolation, while "A&E" shows Goldfrapp's pop urge has not deserted her, uplifting electronica with a warm, bucolic twist. --Louis Pattison
