“Sounding the death knoll for the Cocteaus myth”
- By Chris Twomey
- Record Mirror
- Oct 1988
Everyone has their own perception of the Cocteau Twins. Since their slightly clumsy vinyl debut—the ‘Garlands’ LP—they’ve gradually taken the world, if not by storm, then a bit by surprise.
Essence of Cocteau Twins has always been a difficult thing to capture, but that hasn’t stopped anyone from trying. Journalists have consistently plundered the eerie depths of their Concise Oxford Dictionaries in search of the appropriate words, with some laughable results. It’ll take one hack a very long time to live down the day he described the Cocteaus as “The voice of God.”
Today the Cocteau Twins are looking stronger than ever. With a new album, ‘Blue Bell Knoll’, they’ve matured into the type of group that could go on forever without having to justify itself. The fact that their fifth LP is the sort of creative achievement that puts much of the turgid and derivative rock world to shame, seems an added bonus. They’ve never sounded so good.
We meet at their own studio in West London. A small unit on a large-ish industrial estate, it’s where the latest Twins creation was recorded and has hosted a few notables—the Christians, M/A/R/R/S, AR Kane, the Gun Club—over the last few months.
Meeting the Cocteau Twins is one thing. Interviewing them quite another. They can never be pinned down on a lyrical issue because no one knows what the hell they’re going on about.
“Esperanto of the mind” (Esperanto being the artificial ‘human language’ that never really caught on) is the most apt description of Fraser’s lyrics that anyone’s concocted to date. The Cocteaus created their own language and they’re sticking by it. They’re more inclined to let their craft speak for itself than sit around talking and boasting about it.
And for that we admire them, don’t we? Oddball individuals in an industry that sorely lacks individuality. So what do they think of journalists who try to intellectualise their craft?
Robin: “Well, that’s what they’re meant to do, I suppose. It’s quite annoying when you get ‘the voice of God’ bit because if I read that about a band I’d dismiss them immediately.”
Isn’t it an extreme form of flattery?
Liz: “Well, that guy was obviously very excited, which is brilliant, but it doesn’t make life any easier for us.”
The way you often come across in interviews is that you’re bemused by the whole thing…
Simon: “Awkward bastards!”
Robin: “People have read about us over the years and they have this impression that we’re gonna be awkward. They have this preconception of us sitting in dark corners, wearing cloaks, burning joss sticks and being strange. We’ve never tried to be awkward in an interview.”
Liz: “You’d think they’d be glad, though, when you’re not like that, but they’re not.”
Robin: “You always try to answer a question as honestly as you can, but if you get asked something that’s difficult to answer you go ‘er … God … I dunno’ and it looks like you’re being awkward. The classic is ‘Why do the Cocteau Twins make music?’. I mean, I don’t fucking know! So by not answering, it looks like you’re being evasive.”
It’s easy to see how the Cocteaus’ manner can be misconstrued as bloody mindedness. As I plough through my list of prepared questions, each one is greeted by a few seconds of silence. It’s impossible to gauge whether they’re racking the annals of their minds in search of the perfect answer or contemplating the stupidity of it. Liz, in particular, looks ill at ease. Characteristically wide eyed, she plays with her hands constantly while glancing nervously around the room. There’s plenty to distract her.
We’ve moved now from Chez Cocteau to the complex’s cafeteria. It’s late afternoon and the caterers have clearly decided that it’s time to go home. The Cocteau Twins may be pop stars (of a sort) but within these walls they’re just the occupants of unit F14. Tables an chairs are dragged across the room and stacked, making the sort of horrendous noise that induced physical pain when the class prat insisted on running his fingernails down the blackboard at school. No-one is amused by we persevere. What motivates the Cocteau Twins nowadays?
“I guess we’re still punk rockers,” says Robin rather flippantly. “In an attitude sense the music we make is sort of punk rock. I don’t mean Sham 69…”
Liz: “I’m glad to hear that!”
Simon: “Three times they’ve been mentioned today. I don’t know why.”
Robin: “I’ve become obsessed with them because I think if there’s a 16-year-old kid getting into punk music for the first time, they’ve got no distinction between Sham 69 and the Sex Pistols. I think that’s sinful. At the same time you could see a huge difference between the two, but to someone who hasn’t lived through it, it’s probably the same thing.”
“It’s the same with all these house records. They were things like “Pump Up The Volume” and since then there’s been hundreds of pale imitations.”
The Cocteau Twins haven’t released a single for two years, and apparently there are no plans to release one off the current album. Why is this?
Simon: “Because there wasn’t a single on the record. We think of a single existing on its own. If 4AD want us to put a single out we’ll record one for that purpose.”
Robin: “There’s too much emphasis put on the importance of singles I think. There must be more ways to skin a cat.”
Has it not, then, got anything to do with the Twins’ aversion to ‘Top of the Pops’? Apparently they turned down an opportunity to appear on the show when ‘Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops’ was in the charts in 1984.
Robin: “We just thought at the time we’d look really silly going up there with all these people screaming and waving flags and stuff. We thought we’d make idiots of ourselves so we didn’t do it. It’s not like a manifesto, like the Clash ‘we’ll never do ‘TOTP’, type of thing. It’s just that we try no to do things we’re uncomfortable with.”
Can you see the Cocteau Twins lasting for much longer?
Robin: “If anything, we’re more careerist than ever.”
Simon: “Maybe we weren’t originally. I think when you originally do it you don’t think beyond a year at the most.”
Robin: “Now we’ve got this far we’d like to though we’ll be doing it in a couple of years time—so far as we don’t turn into some sort of dinosaur.”
Just one more thing… Why do the Cocteau Twins make music?
Oh dear, they’ve gone. ▣
Review of Blue Bell Knoll by Chris Twomey
The Cocteau Twins have always been inspiring proof that you can flout the rules of the music business and survive quite happily. They are not, in any sense, conventional pop stars, yet all things considered they have done alright for themselves over the last seven years.
‘Blue Bell Knoll’ shows that the Cocteaus are still masters of their own manor in terms of creative sparkle and a constant lack of predictability. Like previous albums, this relies on a certain amount of endurance before its magic becomes fully unlocked. Song titles which, in their case, have often seemed superfluous to necessity, are typically elaborate. Whereas on ‘Treasure’ they gave them archaic girls’ names, now they have potential fantasy novel titles like ‘The Itchy Glowbo Blow’ and ‘Carolyn’s Fingers’. The end product, though, is just the same: a set of mini-soundtracks displaying Liz Fraser’s incredibly flexible voice as the predominate (and most appealing) instrument.
It may not be an enormous progression from ‘Victorialand’, nevertheless, ‘Blue Bell Knoll’ is an enchanting record that will delight diehard fans and intrigue everyone else. (4 out of 4) - From Record Mirror 17 Sep 1988. ▣
