Cocteau Twins

'Other wordly'. Cocteau Twins are by far one of the most unique bands. Just listen to the elements that compose its sound, Liz Fraser's voice with its unmistakable swirls and warmth, and the peculiarity of the lyrics, which are sometimes made up of random words and even some 'inexistent' ones, the guitars add up an atmosphere of heavenly dreamy fanciness.
They had a dark period which was much faster (early 80s) and later they developed their characteristic ethereal landscapes (late 80s-early 90s).

Favorite Albums:
Garlands
Blue Bell Knoll
Treasure
Victorialand
Heaven or Las Vegas

Favorite Songs: Cocteau Twins – LoreleiCocteau Twins – Garlands
Feather-Or-Blades
Cocteau Twins – Carolyn's Fingers
Cocteau Twins – Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops


Garlands (1982)
Garlands is the 1982 debut album of Cocteau Twins. The result is an album, and a guitar sound, with a strangled, constricted range and a dark ambience. In the post-punk world of the early 1980s the influence of Siouxsie and the Banshees and other proto-goths is clear, but the beginning of the trademark ethereal Twins sound is also here, especially in Elizabeth Fraser's curiously addictive and largely indecipherable vocals.

The songs are simple, repetitive and haunting, with guitar, vocals, bass and the lo-fi drum machine usually entering separately and building to a climax.
The album made a huge impression at the time with its distinctive sound, a still embryonic sound which the band would continue to develop over the succeeding albums and other releases. Garlands ended the year as one of the best-selling 'indy' albums, helped by the fact that band was championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel. With the nurturing of label boss Ivo Watts-Russell, who also co-produced the album, and the band's participation in the successful first This Mortal Coil album, the Cocteau Twins soon became the iconic 4AD band.

With her often opaque textured singing style, Elizabeth's Fraser's lyrics were a source of debate from the start, though Garlands is one of the few Cocteau Twins releases to feature any printed lyrics.




Cocteau Twins - Lorelei (Live 198?)


Cocteau Twins - Carolyn's Fingers (1988)

This Mortal Coil

I recently listened to the album 'It'll End in Tears' and is already one of my favorites. It is, in simple words, ethereal majesty.

Almost all of the songs deserve a close listen,
that will give the ear a delicate and mystical experience.


I can't wait to listen to more of this 80s band.



Favorite Songs:
This Mortal Coil – Song to the Siren
Kangaroo
A Single Wish
The Last Ray


It'll End in Tears (1984)
The debut release by this superstar-Goth outfit shined (and still does) in all its glorious misery and despair. Just how can it be so beautiful? the listener wonders. For one thing, when the project is conceptualized by 4AD Records brain-man Ivo Watts-Russell and includes artists from groundbreaking U.K. bands such as Cocteau Twins, Magazine, and Dead Can Dance, and when a chunk of the material is from musical heavyweights such as Tim Buckley (the haunting "Song to the Siren"), Alex Chilton of Big Star (the devastating "Holocaust" and the heartbreakingly lovely "Kangaroo"), and Colin Newman of Wire (the rockin' "Not Me"), you're bound to come up with something that will be remembered and revered by old-school Goths everywhere. This is lush, hypnotic, astonishingly beautiful. --Lorry Fleming




This Mortal Coil - Kangaroo (1984)