Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 12:13:28 -0400 From: Another Reason to Cut Off an Ear (ICEBLINK@DELPHI.COM) Subject: Cocteau Twins News... I don't know how frequently everyone here checks out the Cocteaus' WWW Page, but here's some new news from Simon... "I thought that you would all like to know that we have just finished a short film featuring two songs from Twinlights EP.Shot by ourselves and filmaker Dirk Van Dooren, it will be ready in a week or so.It is without doubt the most beautiful thing I've ever seen about us.Ring your local TV stations and pester them to show it, as it will be a tragedy if no-one sees it!By the way Twinlights Uk release is now 25th September, due to a pressing hiccup.God bless, Simon XXX" Simon Raymonde Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 12:03:15 -0700 From: a device for squeezing a calico extract (NMARSHALL@POMONA.EDU) Subject: so, where in the world is the buzz over twinlights anyways? Last night while listening to the radio I was thinking, "God, this sounds a lot like Liz Fraser... Who in the world could this be? that singer who did that song with Shane McGowen and the Popes? Loreena McK--? hmm. She sure sounds like Liz Fraser." You probably guessed by now that the song was back-announced as off of _Twinlights_ and I just about kicked myself for not paying closer attention to it or at least turning it up so that everyone sleeping could hear it. Anyways, the song, "Half Gifts" struck me as very quiet, fragile, and delicate. Liz's singing style has the soft kind of whisper like in "Mud and Dark" I think. As much as I heard, quite a good track. I'm getting more positive vibes about their new stuff every day. What is up with you kids? Usually by the time I hear a new CT release it's most inner complexities have been dissected by everyone on the list! Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1995 10:08:54 -0400 From: Another Reason to Cut Off an Ear (ICEBLINK@DELPHI.COM) Subject: Re: Twinlights I managed to get my hands on an advanced promo copy of Twinlights yester- day. (Lawren, since you specifically asked: It's just a 4-song EP. The full-length LP isn't due out until early '96.) I never would have expected what I heard from my headphones when I put in the tape...I know Mr. e. had said "Madre de Dios" when he heard this, and he's so right. Imagine you're sitting in a bar, kinda like the one in Blue Velvet where Isabella Rosselini sang "Blue Velvet", only not necessarily so weird. All there is is a piano (Simon), and acoustic guitar probably with nylon strings (Robin), and a little 5-feet tall chanteuse at a big microphone. That is how naked and intimate Twinlights is. It's utterly beautiful. "Rilkean Heart" and "Half Gifts" -- two heartbreakingly honest songs -- are going to appear on Milk and Kisses in a radically different form. They are also the two songs featured in the short film which is to be released at the same time as Twinlights. "Golden Vein" is very similar to something one might have heard on Victorialand, only without as many effects. The acoustic version of "Pink Orange Red" is lovely. The "lyrics" haven't changed at all, they're just MUCH quieter. The song is dominated by piano. "Rilkean Heart" sounds VERY MUCH like it could be a Kate Bush song. Listening to this, one realized what a talented musician Simon is. Not that that hasn't always been obvious, but it's more apparent now, I think. He's a brilliant pianist. I see now why Ivo had Simon handle so much of the chord arrangments for "Filigree and Shadow". The guitar is all acoustic and, like I said, probably with nylon strings. Simple, delicate pluckings and very little, if any, strumming. Liz is, on this recording at least, dealing a lot with her relationship with Robin. That's my guess anyway. Not all the lyrics are as clear as they were on Four-Calendar Cafe, but the one's which are clear deal with this subject sort of blatantly, in addition to other things, I guess. She has made LITTLE use of overdubs and multi-tracking on her voice here. It's all raw. Maybe the slightest effect on her voice to smooth things out, but it's almost not noticeable. Well, enough of me running my mouth about it. I promise whomever buys this that you will be completely surprised. It does _NOT_ sound like anything they have _EVER_ done before. Mike iceblink@delphi.com "It's an old game of love; When you can't have me you want me because you know that you're not risking anything... (Half Gifts) Date: Tue, 26 Sep 1995 00:46:13 -0700 From: einexile the meek (einexile@NETCOM.COM) Subject: twinlights actually kind of sucks Cocteau Twins - Twinlights I was wrong. I thought this was very beautiful when I heard it in a record store. Maybe I heard something different, but I have it now and it's kind of a big piece of junk. Is this Robin Guthrie playing the piano? He certainly hasn't been taking lessons from Harold Budd. The style is that of a Billy Joel ballad, or the Nordstrom's guy just after Christmas. "Rilkean Heart" really goes nowhere; in fact the entire ep is basically the same few seventh chords over and over in a loop, with little variation and none of the darkness you hope for. It's almost infuriating. "Golden-Vein" is even moreso because it throws you back and forth between distinct branches of the song but never with any satisfying high point or resolution, only the occasional maudlin cliche you would hear in an embarrassingly sentimental movie or a very sad video game. Liz is particularly nice on "Pink Orange Red" but the track is such Victorialand fodder as to be nearly worthless. At least it has a recognizeable chorus that doesn't lead you in neverending circles like Your Ghost with its head cut off. It really does sound like they took tapes of Liz off the cutting room floor and pasted them together here. Totally uninteresting, and a tremendous disappointment after Lifeforms and even "Need-Fire" and even Foul Catheter Cave. "Half-Gifts" is more Billy Joel, more inept piano playing and loser Cure strings. I can picture Judge Dredd slumped over his keyboard, an empty bottle of cheap wine just barely hanging from his limp grip...Christ, there's that word! She said RELATIONSHIP, huhuh huh huh huhhuhuh... Bleagh. At least the artwork is good. Very white, with colored pencil or watercolor? drawing of rose stems and a flower or two, reminds me a bit of Sara Midda but with a distinct style. Actually I guess they are photographs? Whatever. That and a nice new curly logo and nice curly squiggle scribbles that are decidedly non-v23 but still classy. Oh well. Still bleagh. e Date: Tue, 26 Sep 1995 09:09:00 +0100 From: Andrew Norman (nja@LEICESTER.AC.UK) Subject: Cocteaus, Main, FSA An uncommonly good day for singles, yesterday: Cocteau Twins - Twinlights EP (Fontana, CTCD3) Rilkean Heart / Golden-Vein / Pink Orange Red / Half-Gifts Sleeve is by "Blue Source", photography (of rose stems) by Nick Knight. Also available as a double 7" pack, each 7" is in its own sleeve with a larger sleeve to contain both. Nice artwork - Blue Source are also responsible for the very different artwork on the new Pulp single, which I haven't had a chance to listen to yet. A card inside says that the "ambient EP Otherness is available 26th October". Others have commented on the music already, I'll just add a "wow!" to the pile (and ignore e's mithering, please!). Simple piano, Liz singing without the aid of multi-tracking or effects, a little guitar in the background, and some muted strings on the final song. "Half-Gifts" is the closest in style to the "ripped out of a therapy book" lyrical style of the last album, the first two songs are more emotionally complex, and the stripped-down "Pink Orange Red" is simply beautiful. Date: Tue, 26 Sep 1995 18:33:44 -0400 From: Michael Franz (gsource@INTERPORT.NET) Subject: Twinlights EP - etherial ramblings or small frisbee? Having been a Cocteau Twins fan since 1983, and followed them through their many ups and downs artistically, I must say that I have been disappointed at times, but have still loved everything they have done... that is up until "Twinlights". This is the weakest piece of fluff I have heard from anyone in a long time. The acoustic version of "Pink Orange Red" is pretty, but not very satisfying. And the rest of the EP could be disposed of. The insipid piano and the Perry Como strings are unlistenable. And the lyrics..."Rilkean Heart I looked for you to give me transcendant experiences..." Give me a break. I wish Liz would give up English again, I know that she is trying to learn to express herself better, but I much preferred when she sang unintelligible syllables. I understand that this EP is not representative of the music on the forthcoming album, and for that I thank Goddess. "Need-Fire" was amazing. I felt that they had taken the direction they had been going and melded it with the power that they used to have. I for one would like to hear more along this vein. I knew it was bound to happen one day, I just hope that this EP is an isolated incident. Michael Franz (wearing my flameproof garments) Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 01:13:25 -0600 From: ".bigloveeyes." (vonminde@RINTINTIN.COLORADO.EDU) Subject: twinlights no real surprise that the general consensus so far is: bleecheroo. fluff. awful. sucks. those damn lyrics again. that's exactly what i expected everyone to say. thank you for reminding me that at least a few things are stable. i had a wonderful day. what fun to go the record store, pay money, and dash home to listen to my goodies..... (a note on price...i paid $9.98, steep for a 4trackep w/2 songs under 3 min., but i guess much better than $12.99....someone visits a record store with a markup problem.) intially twinlights is not as brilliant as need-fire. intially. by the time pink orange red was really going my head was starting to buzz in the distance. and then those strange little noises liz makes at the end of half-gifts really got me. still....i listened all afternoon...had a nice interim of seeing three beethoven stringquartets performed live (see [spiral], really busy...:) )...and then i listened some more. i don't think it really hit me until just a few minutes ago. it's late, my room is cozy, the air outside is cold.....this ep is beautiful. i'm reminded of when i first got victorialand. i think i listened quite a few times and kept thinking, "ummmm....what just happened?" not that this ep is really like victorialand-era cocteaux, it's just music you have to sink into. i am very pleased. the music here is powerful...subtly so. i am not bothered by liz's lyrics....they may not be anything compared to say simon huw jones or rilke himself, but i don't find them embarrassing. for me, it's still the sound of her voice that touches me....even with the coherent lyrics she's putting a lot into it. golden-vein is by far my favorite track. really beautiful, what's the problem here? the piano's nice....certainly not sloppy. i find the guitar to be lovely...no more repetitive than some things they've done before. i'm glad this ep doesn't sound like typical cocteaux....hurrah for taking a different approach than they're used to. i'm just as excited about them following up on this line as i am about them playing with the need-fire sound. to be sure, good things are happening. i was surprised to see the string parts on half-gifts. didn't robin say he hated strings in the dewdrops interview? ahhh....he was just thinking of another way to slag off on ivo, the big lug.....i think he really likes those this mortal coil songs afterall. okay....you all expected this from me. "can't seem to shake the fear that everything's the same..." .pretendingmyroomisapalace. .mark. 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 Date: Thu, 5 Oct 1995 15:03:43 -0700 From: Laurence Roberts RD (lroberts@BELLAHS.COM) Subject: Twinlights, etc. I just rejoined the list, mainly because I just bought Twinlights last night. I liked it -- and I'm someone who was very disappointed by the therapy-speak of Four-Calendar Cafe. I see them as having moved through the personal difficulties at the time of that record into a new period. On the other hand, maybe I was unduly influenced in thinking that by reading the recent interview in the NME (or was it MM?) Though there are vestiges of the psychobabble cliches of Four-Calendar Cafe, I don't find that too obtrusive. I don't know if anyone's pointed this out, but the release of two four-song EPs is very similar to the release 10 years ago of Tiny Dynamine and Echoes In A Shallow Bay -- and the other echo of that is the reappearance of Pink Orange Red. Something about the keyboard sound was also backwards looking -- bringing to mind the Budd collaboration, and the lack of drums is Victorialand-like. Despite this, and as is typical with Cocteau Twins records, the songs on the record are of a piece, sounding more like each other than like pieces on other of their records. Last night at Reckless Records in San Francisco, I noticed they had a couple of copies of a live Cocteau Twins CD -- a recording from 1986, supposedly limited to 1000 copies (the two xeroxed sleves they had out had different numbers on them.) It was about $23. I didn't buy one, and I absolutely won't go get it for anyone, but if someone's in the Bay Area and wants to get it for themselves, it's there. Has this group discussed Faye Wong's cover of Bluebeard? It's on the Chung King Express soundtrack (though I don't recall hearing it in the movie.) In a way, I felt her version saved it from the problems of Four-Calendar Cafe by rendering the lyrics once more un-understandable (to this non-Chinese speaker, anyway). Larry-bob lroberts@bellahs.com