Cocteau Twins - Victorialand

Review by Ned Raggett

With Raymonde taking a break to work on the second This Mortal Coil album, Fraser and Guthrie made up the Cocteaus for the first full-length follow-up to Treasure. Rather than trying for a full-band approach, Fraser and Guthrie instead created a much more simply beautiful effort, with a relaxed air to it. Rhythms are subtler, with bass and drum machine often totally eschewed in favor of Guthrie's delicate guitar filigrees and lush, produced textures. Fraser is, as always, in wonderfully fine voice; her words are quite indecipherable, but the feelings are no less strong for it. "Lazy Calm" starts things perfectly, as deep, heavily-treated guitar strums combine with a heavy flange and guest saxophone from Dif Juz member Richard Thomas. Other songs sparkle with a lovely vivaciousness. Far from being stereotypical arty music to sit around and be gloomy to, two pieces especially shine with a gentle energy: "Fluffy Tufts," with its many-layered ringing strings and Fraser's overdubbed vocals; and the joyful "Little Spacey," with a soft rhythm underlying more sheer electric loveliness. Guthrie adds heavy reverb and overdubbed lines to create the Cocteaus' wash on such songs as "Throughout the Dark Months of April and May" and "Feet Like Fins," the latter again featuring Thomas, this time on tablas. For all the sweet beauty of Victorialand, things end on a quietly dramatic note, but a dramatic one nonetheless. "The Thinner the Air" starts with treated piano and rather spooky guitar leads -- the mysterious soloing is especially wonderful -- while Fraser then sings with a slightly haunted feeling, concluding with slightly nervous wails. It's an unexpected but effective touch for this fine record.

By Dom Gourlay

Four years on from their debut Garlands, Cocteau Twins had become an established act on the UK alternative scene. Two albums and eight EPs followed hot on the heels of Garlands. Each and every one a stark and refreshing step on from its predecessor whilst still retaining the opulent beauty and sheer originality that made Cocteau Twins one of the most invigorating musical ensembles to emerge from the 1980s.

While its three predecessors all highlighted different facets of the band’s creative ingenuity, 1986’s Victorialand represented a marked progression from anything the band had released before. If the two EPs released six months prior to Victorialand offered a hint of what was to come next—Tiny Dynamine and Echoes in a Shallow Bay, both essentially a collection of experimental demo recordings to test the sonic capabilities of the band’s new studio—the album itself proved to be an endearing affirmation of the adage “less is more.”

With regular bass player Simon Raymonde on extra curricular duties with This Mortal Coil, Victorialand sees Cocteau Twins at their most stripped back. Although not exactly an acoustic album in its most pedantic form—Cocteau Twins never really did acoustic records—Victorialand is as bare a document as its creators ever mustered.

Recorded without bass and percussion, instead focusing on acoustic guitars occasionally accompanied by Richard Thomas on saxophone and tuba. Victorialand lets the confines of its surroundings provide the atmospherics over Robin Guthrie’s signature melodies, while Elizabeth Fraser’s flawless vocal performance throughout guides each of its nine pieces into a blissful state of tranquility.

If anything, Victorialand heralded the birth of ambient rock that would see Enya have a number one hit record two years later with the not entirely un-Cocteaus sounding “Orinoco Flow” while a whole new genre later to be known as shoegaze blew up around it on both sides of the Atlantic.

Ripped to MP3

1. Lazy Calm

2. Fluffy Tufts

3. Throughout the Dark Months of April and May

4. Whales Tails

5. Oomingmak

6. Little Spacey

7. Feet-Like Fins

8. How to Bring a Blush to the Snow

9. The Thinner the Air