Cocteau Twins

Four-Calendar Cafe

THIS MUSIC IS FAR FROM CONVENTIONAL

Review Score:

(10/10)
This music is far from conventional. It is ambiguous; yes, it is. In all its equivocalness, it is cold, distant... frigid. From "KNOW WHO YOU ARE AT EVERY AGE" to "PUR", the songs deliver the feeling of something like being cozy in one's house, near the fireplace, on a nicely curved couch, drinking an energizing cupful of steaming, frothing hot coffee whilst reading one's favorite P.G.WODEHOUSE masterpiece and enjoying the beauty of the sight of the raging blizzard of snow through one's beautifully crafted "French Windows", and being only too glad to fit snugly in the place, one is occupying.
ELIZABETH FRASER's vocals charms one, with its softness and beckons one into its realm of tenderness, insecurity and warm heartedness. The muffled vocals should not be taken with slipshod attention. The vocals have been sung and blended with the music, carefully attending to the minutest detail in the variation of the pitch and tone.
COCTEAU TWINS had always been an elusive and mysterious band. The artwork on this self - produced title is beautiful and minimal. There are no band photographs and the credits amount to just a few lines, in some desolate corner of the booklet, as is the case with every album of theirs. How is this fact, relevant to the music, one would ask; but it very much is. The singing of FRASER has never been less than ambiguous than it has always been. The words are almost impossible to follow. When one seeks the booklet provided to help one in understanding the lyrics, one is only confronted with a feeling of dismay. There are absolutely no lyrics provided!! The booklet consists of only a couple of flaps, of no written matter, whatsoever, except for just a few lines of forcefully written credits; and this is the case with every TWINS' album, as stated above. With ELIZABETH's beautifully, soothingly weird vocals, how can one not feel compelled to refer the booklet provided to try to figure out what the mesmerizing words sung by her are?
Right from the hauntingly muffled vocals of LIZ, to the absence of any printed lyrics, all these add to the mystery of this underrated band and the misery of the listener in making a futile attempt to understand the TWINS' words, better; and the beauty of this trio lies in this mysterious character of their work and attitude.
There are no `favorite' songs, nor are there any songs which spoil the beauty of this L.P. It works as an album, as a whole, with every song, adding its own charm, in creating this unique celestial atmosphere, which makes this album so lovable and something, which holds a very special place in my C.D. collection.

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