Back in the mid-80s when levity and piss-taking were an integral part of the music press, British weekly music mag ran a humourous column called in its jokey pages. It was dedicated to highlighting excruciatingly bad lyrics – who can forget ’s ‘ ’ from , among many other dubious pearls? probably sealed the image of Cocteau Twins singing in gibberish when it ran the lyrics of , the opening song of , as: ‘ .’ (They are, in actual fact, ‘ .
’) Of course, Cocteau Twins, and more specifically, singer Elizabeth Fraser, were much smarter than the jokes suggested. Partly masking her own shyness, her lyrical obfuscation worked better when looked at as a form of instrumentation that blended with the ethereal contributions of guitarist and co-founder Robin Guthrie, plus newly-joined bassist Simon Raymonde – who would later find even greater success as the founder of the Bella Union record label. Released in1984, is the point where musical vision and ambitions coalesced to create a world that was wholly their own.
Previous LPs (1982) and (1983), along with a steady series of EPs, had displayed their evolving maturity. The catalogue had won them the support of John Peel’s listeners and the more cerebral wing of what was later to be defined as ‘goth.’ Fraser’s vocal, couched in childlike splendour, elevate Cocteau Twins to the height of true originals found the trio unshackling the ties of inspiration to set sail into an ocean of creativity that defied the narrow s.