Goldfrapp Plays Follow The Bouncing…Englishman

April 2nd, 2008 // 10 Comments


Is there something a little too cutesy about the new video for “Happiness,” one of those carefully choreographed concept clips designed to hop, skip, and jump their way into online ubiquity? Fun, but also a bit like a soft drink commercial where the suggestion to the ad department was “kinda something Bjork-ish but also, you know…English.” The song, on the other hand, makes me think that I need to revisit my lonely, underplayed copy of Seventh Tree, especially after being left chilly by woodsy first single “A&E”. [YouTube]


  1. Anonymous

    That looks tiring!

  2. DavidWatts

    wait, you think Goldfrapp did something calculated to appeal to people, and not just from the pureness of her heart?! I will never look at genre-hopping, image-switching, commercial soundtrack artists the same way again.

  3. Feh Am Legend

    @capnbecki: Digitally-removed wires or step aerobics?

    If DVD commentaries have taught us geeks anything, it’s how they pull off these overly-choreographed tracking shots, which takes a lot of the ‘magic’ out of this.

  4. Nunya B

    @DavidWatts: Goldfrapp are composed of two people. I am pointing this out not to be pedantic, but because I think it is worth noting that people who refer to Goldfrapp as a band and not as a solo artist tend, oddly, to be less dismissive of the various stylistic changes the band undergo.

    I think Seventh Tree is very good (read: I totally think it deserves revisiting) and I quite like the video for “Happiness,” but it’s by far the most throwback-ish of their songs on the album (the Rex the Dog remix on YouTube kind of proves the point- toss in a couple of synths and it could easily show up on Supernature. I don’t know if that will change your mind about revisiting the album (“Cologne Cerrone Houdini” and “Monster Love” are my favorite songs off the album, PERSONALLY, but I also loooooooved “A&E” so who am I to judge?).

  5. bcapirigi

    i like from about 3:09 to about 3:12, but that’s all.

  6. Anonymous

    Comment on Goldfrapp Plays Follow The Bouncing…Englishman I am an old man, but I can’t be the only person who remembers this…

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=8ImTo2uqSoE

    I like to think of it as an “homage”.

  7. cassidy2099

    As someone at videos.antville.org pointed out, this rips off Peter Wolf pretty hard.

  8. NoNewYork

    oh my god im uch a sap that almost made me cry. it is indeed time to give seventh tree a shot.

  9. bruzie

    Nice crew reflection at 0:43…

    Sorry, can’t help looking for them after watching the commentary for Close Encounters and pointing out the very obvious camera shadow when it zooms in on Baaarrarrarrryyyy…

  10. CarsmileSteve

    wait, i thought this was the video for happiness?

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