Cocteau Twins’ music has always been described, to some degree, as “cinematic.” So it’s fitting that many filmmakers approached them about creating music exclusively for film, or at least lending some of their back catalogue to the endeavour. The only true “film score” the band ever attempted together, in collaboration with Harold Budd, was never fully realised, though it was eventually released as the LP The Moon and The Melodies under the names of “Budd, Fraser, Guthrie, Raymonde.” Robin Guthrie and Budd eventually collaborated on the film score for “Mysterious Skin” in 2004, and again on the score for “White Bird in a Blizzard” in 2014.

Track listing

1. Iceblink Luck (“Mad Dog and Glory”, 1993)
2. Sigh’s Smell of Farewell (“Baywatch”, (TV) S3/EP13, 1993)
3. Time Baby 3 (“The Crow”, 1994)
4. Bluebeard (“Highlander: The Final Dimension”, 1994)
5. Need-Fire (“Judge Dredd”, 1995)
6. Summer-blink (“The Doom Generation”, 1995)
7. Alice (“Stealing Beauty”, 1996)
8. Seekers Who Are Lovers (“Nowhere”, 1997)
9. Song to the Siren (“Lost Highway”, 1997)
10. Pitch the Baby (“Splendor”, 1999)
11. Lazy Calm (“Condo Painting”, (Documentary) 2000)
12. Ice-Pulse (“Tarnation”, (Documentary) 2003)
13. Crushed (“Mysterious Skin”, 2004)
14. Heaven or Las Vegas (“The L Word” (TV) S3/EP9, 2006)
15. Otterley (“The 11th Hour”, 2007)
16. Cherry-Coloured Funk (“27 Dresses”, 2008)
17. Pandora (“Parashat Ha-Shavua” (Israeli TV), 2008)
18. Heaven or Las Vegas (“S. Darko”, 2009)
19. Alice and Song to the Siren (“The Lovely Bones”, 2009)
20. Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops (“The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, 2012)
21. Pink Orange Red (“Nieulotne”/”Lasting”, 2013)
22. Lorelei (“Test”, 2013)
23. Sea, Swallow Me (“White Bird in a Blizzard”, 2014)
24. Beatrix (“Califórnia”, 2015)
25. Ivo (“Punk’s Dead: SLC Punk 2”, 2016)
26. Iceblink Luck (“Roadies” (US TV), 2016)
27. Why Do You Love Me? (“Brakes”, 2016)
28. The Spangle Maker (“Red Oaks” (US) TV S2/EP8, 2016)
29. Heaven or Las Vegas (“Modern Life is Rubbish”, 2017)
30. Iceblink Luck (“SPF-18”, 2017)
31. Cherry-Coloured Funk (“Rellik”, (TV) S1/EP6, 2017)
32. Heaven or Las Vegas (“Come Home”, (TV) S1/EP1, 2018)
33. Heaven or Las Vegas (“Bojack Horseman”, (TV) S5/EP10, 2018)
34. Pandora (“Diablo Guardián”, (TV), 2019)
35. Cherry-Coloured Funk (“Endings, Beginnings”, 2019)
36. Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops (“Halston”, (TV) S1/EP5, 2021)
37. The songs “Carolyn’s Fingers,” “Athol-Brose,” and “Iceblink Luck” were featured in Japanese TV commercials for Honda, Mitsubishi, and Toyota in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Performers

• Elizabeth Fraser
• Robin Guthrie
• Simon Raymonde

Release notes

• “Cherry-Coloured Funk,” “Pitch the Baby,” “Iceblink Luck,” and “Heaven or Las Vegas” are taken from Heaven or Las Vegas.
• “Sigh’s Smell of Farewell” is taken from the EP, Love’s Easy Tears.
• The version of “Pitch the Baby” featured in “Splendor” was from a live performance, mixed by Mark Clifford, taken from the 1996 Milk & Kisses tour. As it had never been formally released, it was not included on the official soundtrack for the film.
• “Time Baby 3” was a collaboration with Medicine. Robin remixed the song and Liz provided additional backing vocals.
• “Bluebeard” is taken from Four-Calendar Café.
• “Need-Fire” was recorded exclusively for the “Judge Dredd” soundtrack, and never released elsewhere. It was barely audible in the film itself.
• “Summer-blink” is taken from the single Evangeline.
• “Alice” was originally released as part of the “Stealing Beauty” soundtrack, and was later released on the single Violaine (2 of 2).
• “Seekers Who Are Lovers” (Mark Clifford Mix) was featured in the Gregg Araki film “Nowhere,” but did not appear on the soundtrack. It was taken from the EP Otherness.
• “Song to the Siren”—officially a This Mortal Coil recording—was featured in the David Lynch film “Lost Highway,” but was not released as part of the official soundtrack. Lynch had tried for years to include “Song to the Siren” in one of his films (most notably “Blue Velvet”). In fact, the director had worked hard to arrange for Liz and Robin to mime the song in “Blue Velvet“‘s prom scene, but the costs of acquiring the rights from the Tim Buckley estate proved prohibitive.
• “Lazy Calm” is taken from Victorialand.
• “Ice-Pulse” is taken from the single Bluebeard.
• “Crushed,” Cocteau Twins’ contribution to 4AD’s 1987 compilation Lonely is an Eyesore, was featured prominently in a scene in “Mysterious Skin”—Gregg Araki’s adaptation of Scott Heim’s controversial novel of the same name—but was not included in the motion picture soundtrack. Indeed, none of the songs included in the film—the fifth one of Araki’s to feature Cocteau Twins—were included. Instead, the score, which was composed and performed by Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd, was the official release.
• “Ivo,” “Lorelei,” “Beatrix,” and Otterley” are taken from the LP Treasure.
• “Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops” and “The Spangle Maker” are taken from the EP The Spangle Maker.
• “Pink Orange Red” is taken from the EP Tiny Dynamine.
• “Sea, Swallow Me” and “Why Do You Love Me?” are taken from the collaboration with Harold Budd, The Moon and The Melodies.