Alison Goldfrapp sings like she’s the spy who loved me.

       The whole disc is a classic James Bond movie. Think about the name too: Goldfrapp. She’s the perfect Bond villainess. She is seductive and mysterious in her words, whistles and whoops. And composer Will Gregory’s choice of instrumentation is always right on. He never hits you over the head with anything that is unnecessary, but he always introduces sounds into the songs that you wouldn’t expect. Kinda like some of the inventions that Q gives to Bond, right?

       The first number, “Lovely Head”  glides across the landscape with undercurrent synthesizer sounds straight from Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures” and a terrifying hungry-stomach riff, with Alison Goldfrapp nonchalantly whistling along at times. And the words are vague and sexy. You know who else is vague and sexy? James Bond.

       “No time to fuck,” she sings in “Paper Bag”. It’s almost as if she is challenging Gregory to see who can be bolder. His string ensemble, ukelele, melodica and koto are the perfect vehicle for her contemplative Portisheady melody about baboons and birds sucking the sun. I don’t know what the hell a koto looks like but it’s sound is as exotic as Alison Goldfrapp’s lyrics.

       “Human” is the closest this disc gets to a Bond movie. It’s almost as if we can actually see the animated blood dripping over the silhuetted figure pointing the gun at us when the blunt horns kick in over the creeping strings.

       Felt Mountain comes across as really intense throughout the first half of the disc. This sets a serious tone which works most of the time, but can backfire when she so seriously sings a line like, “ice and clouds shimmer outside, rain just falls at magic hour.” It just sounds stupid.

       But mid-way through the disc something remarkable happens. It gets fun, and even a little bit light-hearted. Niether the title track or the song “Oompa Radar” have many discernable lyrics. It’s just a lot of productive studio experimentation with Allison dee dee deeing, da da dahing and la la-ing her way over the Moog. The latter song is especially fun because of its title. The tuba sound evokes the oompa of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and everything else associated with the word oompa. It’s like a carnival.

       This sets the mood perfectly for “Utopia”. This song seems to be the culmination of everything this disc has worked so hard to achieve. It’s exotic, mysterious, incredibly catchy, and possibly even making fun of itself.

       “I’m wired to the world, that’s how I know everything. I’m super brain,” she speak-sings before the triumphant refrain comes back in. She is telling the truth, but is aware of how cocky she is being. After  all Goldfrapp is a double-00 agent.