After seven albums with her band and one solo effort, Flux is Alison Goldfrapp’s first record on her very own label. Here, the electro pioneer muses on her “terrifying” decision and the state of the modern industry…
INTERVIEW: Lisa Wright
The album’s title could evoke a lack of stability, but the way you’ve interpreted it seems to be a lot more about possibility. Is that the case?
“It’s about change and things evolving and constantly moving, and for me that reflects in the music and also in my personal life. Being an almost 60-year-old woman, I feel like in the last 10 years there have been so many changes, physically and emotionally, and then in the fucking world we live in as well. Flux is a word that feels very relevant to now and just being human.”
This marks your first release on your own AG Records label. Why did now feel like the right time to take that step?
“I wish I’d done it sooner, but confidence has definitely got something to do with it. My management have been key in me being able to do this in the sense that they’ve given me a lot of support and encouragement, so it’s got a lot to do with the team around me, which I didn’t have before. It did feel a bit terrifying at times as well. I see stuff going out of my account, every goddamn little penny, whereas before I just wouldn’t have noticed things. [Labels] used to spend crazy amounts of money on stuff that you wouldn’t even know about, so that’s been quite enlightening. But it feels very liberating; it’s a good feeling.”
Has it brought new challenges to your artistry?
“Not being able to spend money on doing a great video is a bit disappointing to say the least, because visuals are such a big part of how I imagine songs and how I write and produce music. It’s so hard because you see Lady Gaga’s video for Abracadabra and you think, ‘Wow that’s a fucking video!’ Amazing costumes and production and post, and it just looks so gorgeously lush and wonderful, and then someone says you’ve got £2,000 to make something and you think, ‘What the fuck? Why bother making anything if I can’t do it to a certain standard?’ It’s interesting because having less money makes you think outside the box, but it would be nice to splurge on a load of outfits…”
You started Goldfrapp in your 30s – do you feel the industry has changed in terms of accepting women at different ages?
“Definitely. When I used to do press around the days of [2005 third Goldfrapp album] Supernature, there was so much insidious misogyny. Things have still got a way to go but they’ve definitely changed for the better. And with genres as well, the music industry used to be obsessed with the idea of a genre, so you went to a record store and you’d get heavy metal, rock, dance, pop, trip-hop or whatever; stupid names given to things. Whereas now, the lines are so much more blurred and everything’s fusing together, which I think is much healthier and more imaginative and creative.”
Are there still things on your musical bucket list?
“Oh god, yeah! I don’t know what the answer is at the moment – it feels like touring and doing anything is so much harder now, so I don’t fucking know what’s going to happen, but of course there are lots of things I’d still love to do. There’s less money, but I do think there are a lot of pluses about artists being able to have control over their image and being more vocal about things. There are just different problems now. Creative life is hard, but it’s always been hard, so you just have to make choices and try to make it work.”
