Date: Sat, 30 Sep 1995 23:23:55 -0700 From: a device for squeezing a calico extract (NMARSHALL@POMONA.EDU) Subject: Some news about the new Cocteau Twins video and Twinlights This may be of some interest to those who have been slagging _Twinlights_ or those who like it. [For the record, I think the cover is the best post-23 envelope ever, very good and the music is pretty good, the singing is the best part. I don't normally pay attention to lyrics much anyways, besides the few obvious words.] Friday, when I went to the video duplicating place I work at sometimes I saw a stack of Cocteau Twins press releases for _twinlights_ along with a stack of B&W promo photos that everyone seems to use. It turns out that the new video that has been mentioned on the list a few times will be duplicated and sent out to US music video shows some time next week. (I'm not absolutely sure on the date, but pretty soon.) The press release and photos are inserts to be sent with the videos The press release is printed on heavy, sort of translucent paper. I'll try typing this thing in. It's kind of long, but there is some good info from the band here. Cocteau Twins [in their new/old logo] twinlights Elizabeth Fraser - Robin Guthrie - Simon Raymonde No one tells you how to be in a band; a list of do's and don'ts, cliches to avoid, which drugs to take and which ones not to, which misgivings are founded and which ones are just paranoia. It's just something you're expected to pick up as you go along. And all because there was this music in your head that you had to get out. Beyond that, though, it's a pretty delicate balance. The lay-by of pop is littered with the remains of bands who made one classic album, then feeling somehow constrained by its success, sought to make a totally different one only to wonder why everyone lost interest. And then there's the other extreme where you just make the same records again and again until no one's listening anymore. The Cocteau Twins have done alright as it happens. Thirteen years and eight albums down the line, Liz Fraser, Simon Raymonde, and Robin Guthrie have still found ways to conjure a fragrant spectrum of sensations from the same emotional paint box. Thirteen years and eight albums down the line, there isn't a single group that has ever sounded like the Cocteau Twins, be it the violent urgency which ignites, say, _Iceblink Luck_ (1990), the terror drunk exhortations of _Treasure_ (1984), or the misty-eyed serenity that consumes most of their Fontana debut _Four-Calendar Cafe_ (1993). But of course, no one ever tells you how to be in a band. _Four-Calendar Cafe_ was a feast of contradictions; possessed of a gentility and serenity hitherto uncharted even for the Cocteau Twins, yet ravaged by all sorts of hidden discord. "When we finally got 'round to recording it," recalls Robin, ever the master of understatement, "I was amazed none of us had actually committed suicide, killed each other, and fired everyone around us. It was an intense period after we had left 4AD, and the following months were fairly grim, but rather than try and sort it out, we'd just get fucked up!" So what's happened in the interim? Robin: "Well, we started talking to each other a bit more." "That was the big development," reckons Liz. "We'd never really talked before. But now, we're not afraid to say things for fear that we'll laugh each other out of the room. It's a completely new feeling." Ironically, this renewed sense of communication has led the Cocteau Twins back to the original motivations that saw Liz and Robin start the band, back in Grangemouth, Scotland, 15 years ago. The upshot of all this renewed activity, then, is two EPs. The first, entitled _Twinlights_, is a largely acoustic collection. It features three new songs, "Rilkean Heart," "Golden Vein," "Half-Gifts," and a version of "Pink Orange Red" (1985). The second, _Otherness_, sees the group coming full-circle, returning to the more ambient strain of their sound that has influenced groups as disparate as Future Sound Of London and The Chemical Brothers. Working in collaboration with Mark Clifford from ambient group Seefeel, the four tracks contained on the EP are made up of two new and two previously released songs. "Feet Like Fins" is from _Victorialand_ and "Cherry Colored Funk" is from _Heaven of Las Vegas_. The two new tracks are "Seekers Who Are Lovers," and "Violaine." "We all grew up buying 12-inch singles," says Simon, "Because those are the only records you can afford to take a chance on when you're growing up. So the medium of the EP had always been pretty important to us, and the past couple of years in our studio has just been brilliant. We've recorded a new album, but there are other areas we want to explore to make this vital to us." The new album is called _Milk and Kisses_, and was recorded between December 1994 and April 1995 in Brittany and at the band's studio in London. There is an extraordinary range of emotions displayed here, and the interplay of Elizabeth's voice and the instrumentation produces moments of stunning beauty. All the songs were written and played by Robin, Simon, and Elizabeth. _Milk and Kisses_ will be released early next year, and the band will be performing live in a more unorthodox manner than we have previously seen them. They are intriguingly unwilling to reveal any more at this point! "After the last tour," ruminates Simon, "we all came back and we all thought, 'Why are we doing this?' We want to make records, put them out, and not worry about whether they do well. And that's what we did with the EPs. You just think, 'Why don't we try a couple of acoustic songs?' We don't want to do a whole album like that, because is says, 'Hey! This is our new direction,' and it quite obviously isn't." As with _Four-Calendar Cafe_, much has been made of Liz's recent tendency to make her words more audible. Liz is naturally reticent to spell it all out. It's not so much that the songs don't mean anything, it's just that to sit there outlining explanations would be to imply that the music simply isn't doing its job. "The funny thing," says Liz, "is that it doesn't matter whether you can understand the lyrics or not. The results are the same. But recording for the next album and these EPs has been much better. All I can do is tell you what I was feeling when I was doing that album. I felt like I couldn't do what I've always done, but also I was really afraid of being judged for what I was saying. Having said that, there's still about three or four songs, where, from a vocal point of view, no one will understand what I'm singing. They just won't. But it doesn't make it any more or less significant than the lyrics, because it's all the same emotions in those sounds." The band would never be this bold as to say so, but both EPs convey both extremes of the Cocteau Twins sound with a peculiarly assured air. On "Rilkean Heart" and "Half Gifts," Liz sounds quietly aghast that happiness and inner strength seem within her reach for the first time. And although confidence isn't quite the word, the band's rediscovered equilibrium has certainly brought about a change. "These days I have something set up to stop me losing it completely. I'm usually not comfortable with being honest. I want to be, but all my old bells are tolling, and these messages are telling me that I'm crap, that I'll get stitched up. But now I can take care of it with the minimum of pain. I'm getting into new territory all the time, more into being honest and willing to take the risks which that entails." And while we are on the subject of "new territory", the band have been filming themselves during recent recordings, and together with influential filmmaker Dirk Van Dooren, are currently working on a project which will surface in early September. These days, life with the Cocteau Twins is gravitating towards a state of sanity. You get to an age where you realize that suffering does not equal great art, half as much as the ability to communicate ideas. "I can't think of very many bands that have been together as long as we have and actually still like each other enough not to be doing it for the right reasons. A lot of bands stay together because is makes financial sense. I genuinely, honestly believe we're just starting to do some really interesting things now. Perhaps that sounds silly." Of course is does. Whoever thought of a band staying together for 13 years and actually liking each other? As 1995 draws to a conclusion, with tongue firmly in cheek, Robin is convinced that Simon has no interests other than football. This he firmly denies, countering with claims that Robin spends most of his waking hours in front of a computer. Robin and Simon are beginning to wonder if Elizabeth could _really_ pass a motorbike test, and we are left feeling very grateful, that, for the time being, the Cocteau Twins are in prime form. No one ever tells you how to be in a band, but the Cocteau Twins, it seems, are finally getting the hang of it. Cocteau Twins _Twinlights_ Capitol 30548 September 1995 Capitol Records So, Simon assures us _Twinlights_ is not their new sound. Any speculation on what their live shows will be like? More than three guitarists? Four percussionists? Artsy movie backdrop? 20 foot tall video screens and fireworks and helicopters? I don't know about you, but this video seems pretty interesting. I hope it gets played on music video shows so that people can see it. take care, -nck