You might expect the debut album from a woman who has collaborated extensively with Tricky and Orbital to be both wondrous and strange–and you’d be right to. What you might not expect is the depth of Alison Goldfrapp’s beguiling, distracting 21st-century noir visions on Felt Mountain. She and her fellow composer Will Gregory can mix in Brechtian cabaret; classical instrumentation; left-of-field electronics; decadent, Gainsbourg-style French pop; and the odd piece of whistling on just one track (“Felt Mountain”). “Oompa Radar” almost reaches Tom Waits heights of infamy from the way familiar instruments come together in such a simultaneously comforting and alienating style. The baroque “Paper Bag,” meanwhile, uncannily recalls Joe Meek’s toy-town visions of 1960s grandeur. All this and a seductive vocal to die for. –Everett True
