Cocteau Twins "Victorialand"

[J. Peter Alfke <alfke@csvax.caltech.edu>]

I have it right here ... the new Cocteau Twins album:
	_Victorialand_     4AD Records; CAD602

	Lazy Calm
	Fluffy Tufts
	Throughout the Dark Months of April and May
	Whales' Tails

	Oomingmak
	Little Spacey
	Feet-like Fins
	How to Bring a Blush to the Snow
	The Thinner the Air

  Know, first off, that the Cocteau Twins are my most consistently
favorite makers of music.  They have not disappointed me this time
around.

  As previously reported, this album consists almost entirely of
acoustic guitar and voice; there is percussion here and there, and
saxophone on one cut, and bits of synth for texture, but the primary
elements are layers of Robin Guthrie's (often highly treated) guitar,
and Elizabeth Frazer's singing, more sopranal, ethereal and abstractly
lovely than ever.

  The Twins' work follows a coherent path of evolution, starting with
_Garlands_'s doom-laden circling banshee mantras, moving bit-by-bit away
from drone and noise into a pastoral chiming beauty.  Their music, as
always, is extremely difficult to describe; one cannot analyze lyrics,
since Elizabeth Frazer's singing is almost completely incomprehensible
(she uses her voice as a lead instrument, not to convey words), and
the music refuses to be fit into any genre.

  As with any of their works, one can toss out names to compare
_Victorialand_ to, but none give more than hints.  There is a detectable
influence from Dif Juz (whose sax player appears on "Lazy Calm").  I am
reminded in some places of the Windham Hill ambient-folk-jazz style, or
even of straight folk music; classical guitar a la Andre Segovia ...
but it doesn't really sound like any of these.

  There are no lyrics, and no intricacies of performance, so one must
call this mood music.  The overall feeling is a peaceful euphoria,
fragile beauty, romantic pastoralism ... it is some of the purely
prettiest music I've ever heard.  It makes me feel like falling in love.

  All attempts that I've ever heard to describe the Cocteau Twins' music
have become as effusive and carried-away as this one has.  Description
is just words; the music will stand by itself.

						--Peter Alfke
						alfke@csvax.caltech.edu

PS: Okay, Genesis lovers, here's one more
comparison that might be made: remember the
instrumental ending of "Entangled", with the high
angelic synthesizer?  Imagine that done with a
*real* voice and acoustic guitar for the
instrumentation.  Imagine an album like that ...