Throughout the '80s, Cocteau Twins created some of the most beautiful and innovative music of the decade. Liz Fraser's uncanny, gossamer voice and Robin Guthrie's shimmery guitar work both garnered acclaim and inspired bands. Milk & Kisses finds the band in a comfortable rut; they've created, and now perfected, a style of music so distinctive that there seems to be little recent creative growth. The result is a beautiful, lush, but somewhat dated and unengaging sounding album that tends to wash over the listener without making any real impact. It is, however, everything that a Cocteau Twins album promises; hypnotic, dreamy, awash in ethereal voices, and delicate, liquid guitars. "Tishbite" in particular delivers an accessible dream pop sound that sounds nice while it's playing but fails to have anything really memorable about it, a problem that plagues most of Milk & Kisses. "Half-Gifts," "Rilkean Heart," and "Treasure Hiding" have an airy, otherwordly prettiness to them -- but that's about it. Necessary for Cocteau Twins diehards and potentially interesting to those that have never heard the band before, Milk & Kisses says nothing, but says it beautifully.
The band's influences at the time included Joy Division, The Birthday Party, Sex Pistols and Siouxsie & The Banshees. The name Cocteau Twins itself comes from an early (unreleased) song by fellow Scotsmen Simple Minds. Their debut recording, Garlands (released by 4AD Records in 1982), was an instant success, as was the subsequent Lullabies EP.
More >
So the Cocteau Twins are one of my favorite groups and a true inspiration for me when it comes to writing, but having gotten into them far too late, I never had occasion to see them play. I found this video clip of them playing on some TV show and it reminded me of the glaring differance of playing in a studio and playing live. I would never exactly catagorise the Twins as a "rocking" band, ...
More >
So the Cocteau Twins are one of my favorite groups and a true inspiration for me when it comes to writing, but having gotten into them far too late, I never had occasion to see them play. I found this video clip of them playing on some TV show and it reminded me of the glaring differance of playing in a studio and playing live. I would never exactly catagorise the Twins as a "rocking" band, ...
More >
The band's influences at the time included Joy Division, The Birthday Party, Sex Pistols and Siouxsie & The Banshees. The name Cocteau Twins itself comes from an early (unreleased) song by fellow Scotsmen Simple Minds. Their debut recording, Garlands (released by 4AD Records in 1982), was an instant success, as was the subsequent Lullabies EP.
More >
| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Violaine |
|
|
| 2 Serpentskirt |
|
|
| 3 Tishbite |
|
|
| 4 Half-Gifts |
|
|
| 5 Calfskin Smack |
|
|
| 6 Rilkean Heart |
|
|
| 7 Ups |
|
|
| 8 Eperdu |
|
|
| 9 Treasure Hiding |
|
|
| 10 Seekers Who Are Lovers |
|
|
Click to purchase…
© 2006-2009 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved
 "Milk & Kisses")
