“We do put a show on, but we don’t perform."

Lansure's Music Paraphernalia

In an interview for Japanese television, Cocteau Twins bassist Simon Raymonde remarks, “We do put a show on, but we don’t perform. We’re not actors. There are bands that find it easy to get on Top of the Pops and prance about.” This statement could be flung aside as a classic ostentatious remark from an experimental alternative band of the 90s, akin to Sonic Youth’s flippant interviews regarding their own creative production.

However, Cocteau Twins differ in the way they recontextualize sound.

They use the idea of vocals as an instrument without merging into the territory of onomatopoeias seen in acapella bands. Their vocalist Elizabeth Fraser is known for engaging in “glossolalia,” colloquially defined as speaking in tongues, to give her voice a transcendent spiritual experience that floats above the chiming guitars, recalling the Roman splendors of bacchanalia.

This element is most elucidated by their 1988 studio album Blue Bell Knoll, where the song “Athol-Brose” references a celebratory Scottish drink composed of oatmeal, brose, honey, and whiskey. The beverage’s name is an ode to the First Earl of Atholl, who, according to legend, spiked the rebel leader’s well during a Highland rebellion and eventually led to his inebriated capture. Percussive elements flirt with Fraser’s voice in circular patterns of echolalia, suggesting the spinning of a carnival carousel or an enchanted game of Ring Around the Rosie. The opening song, “Blue Bell Knoll,” features church-like qualities through its usage of shifting organs, recalling in my mind Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” and classic horror films such as John Carpenter’s Halloween.

Though they denied being labelled as gothic, earlier albums such as Garlands and The Pink Opaque engaged intimately with the post-punk genre, displaying emblems of gaudier cobwebbed riffs compared to the illustrious aural qualities of their ambient album Victorialand.