After a hiatus of a little over a year, the Cocteau Twins
release what they call an experimental EP and expect us to go
out and pay for their free time. Well, we whole-heartedly
recommend that you do just that! The Cocteau Twins recorded
"Twinlights" with a four-piece string section and features three
new songs, "Rilkean Heart," "Golden Vein," "Half-Gifts," and an
acoustic version of "Pink Orange Red."
Robin Guthrie recalls what happened while recording the
Cocteau Twins' last album "Four Calendar Cafe" and how that lead
to "Twinlights": "When we finally got 'round to recording it,
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 left 4AD, and the following months were fairly
grim, but rather than try and sort it out, we'd just get fucked
up!... Well, we started talking to each other a bit more."
"That was the big development," continues 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."
The result of this "new feeling" between the members of the
Cocteau Twins are two EPs and a new album. "Twinlights" is the
first of the EPs. It is a very lovely acoustic record that,
while retaining much of what is so familiar (and even standard)
in the 'Twins, it clearly delivers a new edge of music.
The second EP, "Otherness" is yet to be released and will bear
a more ambient quality. It's interesting that bands that are
so strongly influenced by the Cocteau Twins (Future Sound of
London and Seefeel) are now collaborating with them. Mark
Clifford of Seefeel joins in on "Otherness" which features two
CT remakes ("Feet Like Fins" and "Cherry Colored Funk") and two
new songs ("Seekers Who Are Lovers" and "Violane").
Their full-length will be entitled "Milk and Kisses" and
will be released early 1996. No more information is really
available about that album, except to say that the Cocteau Twins
want to emphasize that the EPs they are releasing now are simply
experimental and (as Simon notes) that "it quite obviously
isn't" the direction the band is heading. So that can leave us
to expect more work along the lines of "Heaven or Las Vegas" and
"Four Calendar Cafe" on "Milk and Kisses," namely, more
understandable lyrics from Liz, more guitars from Robin and
Simon, and probably more drums. We'll post some sound samples
from that album as soon as we have them.