If you were ever near a concert stage and found yourself wrapped in a cloud of manufactured smoke, alternatingly lit by deep blue, purple and rose coloured lights, and inhaled some of the odd electric scent of the mist, you might be able to substantiate a portion of the vibe that is the Cocteau Twins. Nestled somewhere between the amorphous groove of Alex Paterson's Orb and the elegant semi-gothness of Siouxsie and the Banshees, they remain cloaked in beautifully spooky tones that resonate on a frequency towards the midpoint between despair and splendor.
Released as pair of mini-LPs a few months apart, they are a nod to the era when the 12-inch Ep was the only affordable way to pick through the import underground of the late 70's and 80's. But they also serve to illuminate the duality of a pop ensemble now thirteen years mature that traffics in processed rhythms and intangible lyrics. Twinlights, done mostly as piano and voice, is the organic incarnation of the band while Otherness is its ambient sibling. Together they show off the Twins' ability to flex their compositional muscles and how they can effectively balance alternate visions of their work.
All told, the content is split evenly over eight tracks with the bulk of the songs made up by new material. "Rilkean Heart" is a mode apart from the general melancholy of Twinlights, flowing almost cheerfully along, driven by Frazier's gentle falsetto. Her voice hesitates and gushes before arcing towards a brilliant closing passage. But "Half-Gifts" is the disc's chief reward. Its beauty is simple, laced with gentle string work, and a plaintive vocal that eventually resolves towards hope. There was (and still is) always a fuss made over Frazier's use of mumbo jumbo to stock her lyrics, but even though she takes to plain English on this track, she proves her point that the emotional phrasing of her vocals is what's of consequence.
The second disc, which adds ambient-head Mark Clifford of Seefeel, trips off into the ether, revamping two older tracks ("Feet Like Fins" and "Cherry Colored Funk") alongside two new pieces. It's easy to say that the timbre of what's laid out here isn't a difficult stretch for the Twins, but when you've waded through enough stacks of useless "extended versions" in a lifetime you can appreciate these subtle and effectively groovy treatments. It's always a notable thing when a remix or a trance doused track can carry you off to a place other than slumberland.
Consequently, some of these tracks are set to appear on the forthcoming LP (_Milk and Kisses), but done up in this format, (with neato artwork) they are well worth having. There's also a tour in the works in order to suss out the remaining dimensions not etched into the plastic.
