GOLDFRAPP (i.e. Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory) is back with a brand new album, Tales Of Us, and this morning we get our very first look at the short film which accompanies the song “Annabel”. Each song off the album is named after a different person, with “Annabel” being inspired by Kathleen Winter’s eponymous 2010 novel which tells the story of a hermaphrodite child forced to take on a male identity in 1960s Canada. The video was directed by Allison Goldfrapp‘s partner, Lisa Gunning, who also worked as Editor on Sam Taylor Wood’s impressive 2009 film Nowhere Boy. With a running time of just over 7 minutes, the music doesn’t kick in until roughly the 3-minute mark, a choice purposely made by GOLDFRAPP as a way of leaning more towards the art of short film, and distancing itself from a conventional music video. In an interview with NOWNESS, GOLDFRAPP speaks about the inspiration for the song:
“I read ‘Annabel’ and was totally drawn into that world, and immediately wrote the song. It’s very much about my interpretation of the book. If anyone hears that song they’ll just think it’s about a girl, they won’t know what it is about, so I was very intent on making the film. The boy is amazing, he’s got a stillness and a melancholy to his face, and an introverted quality about him. It’s very much about memory, identity and gender. I’ve always been fascinated by dual creatures, personas, people, personalities, and transformation. I think it’s a theme that’s pretty much always in fairy tales and horror, which I love. What struck me about ‘Annabel’ is that the parents are in total denial of what their child is: this child has to choose in the end, and that’s what society is making them do. Why can’t you be both? I feel really strongly about that whole concept in so many things in life. All the characters in these songs are trying to figure out who they are, where they’re going, and why they are who they are.”
You can read the entire interview in full by visiting NOWNESS.com. GOLFRAPP’s Tales Of Us is set for release on September 10th, but you can pre-order your own copy today via iTunes. To enter the world of GOLDFRAPP be sure to check out their terrific website at GOLDFRAPP.com, and follow the group on Facebook and Twitter.
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