If you look down Commonwealth Avenue this Saturday, you might spot Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory aka Goldfrapp riding the ’80s revival bandwagon toward the Paradise. This year’s Black Cherry, Goldfrapp’s sophomore effort, is a vast departure from their debut, Felt Mountain, itself an album that received some flak for drawing heavily on an oh-so-yesterday sound (trip-hop). Fortunately, Goldfrapp are pretty damn good at what they do: Felt Mountain sated many who had been waiting for another Portishead record, and Black Cherry is a surprisingly solid romp through disco kitsch and glammed-out excess.

Well, electroclash may be dead if it was ever truly alive but done up right, a combination of sultry female vox and T. Raumschmiere-esque synth-stomps can still work wonders on the dance floor or in the bedroom. And it’s definitely a step up from the standard-issue chill-out that pervaded much of Felt Mountain.

What has prevented Goldfrapp from being a bargain bin genre casualty, though, is Alison’s exceptional voice, which alternates between ethereal, pouty and slyly bitchy at all the right moments. It’s the voice that saved Felt Mountain from total mediocrity, and on Black Cherry it lends some sex okay, a lot of sex to the Teutonic crunch and analog buzz.

Goldfrapp’s live shows are famously intense, and as on the recordings, Alison is the center of it all. She’s Queen Bitch, she knows it and she defies you to keep cool when she hits the farthest extremes of her vocal range. So, even if you’ve long since thrown out that Fischerspooner ticket stub, Goldfrapp will provide a welcome foray into the dirtier, sexier corners of retro-chic.

The band will play the Paradise on Saturday, Sept. 20.