Alice - Cocteau Twins
May 28th 2008 11:08
Lullabies to Violaine Vol.2 by Cocteau Twins
A song that equals a dream, scattered images that rise and dissolve like smoke, imperceptible figures in the mist, a desolate longing, the tears of which dampen the pillow during sleep. Tears that will have dried by the morning and be long lost in the night. Alice by the Scottish alternative rock band Cocteau Twins have it all. It is not easy to explain this track because the muse who had inspired it is so fragile and so unearthly that it does not provide a meaning. Almost like a shy Tinkerbell, she touches one on the shoulder, takes them to an angelic dimension for a split second, fills them with precognitive visions and disappears.
Cocteau Twins remains an inspirational force behind the post-punk acts today. Their instantly successful debut, Garlands, is a pivotal example that there might be other ways of expressing gothic in music other than distorted guitar riffs and brutal vocals. I still believe that the fairy-like, extremely colorful vocals of Liz Fraser has an impact on "the beauty" of "beauty and the beast" sound of gothic metal (this is the popular arrangement where the song is performed by two leads, a soprano and a brutal male vocal).
The success of Garlands was just the beginning. The band's already acclaimed musical prowess kept progressing in time as they experimented. Although, Will Heggie, the band's bass player, left the group, they managed to create an artistic outcome out of the situation which led to the ethereal sound the group is renown for. Starting with Head over Heels and reaching its peak when they signed a contract with 4AD, Cocteau Twins entered a new dimension of dream pop where ambient and pop flirted. The otherworldly Song to the Siren, their collaboration with the 4AD project, This Mortal Coil, is a crucial example of this sound.
Alice was written on piano by Simon Raymonde, who took the bass after Heggie, and was featured in Bernardo Bertolucci's controversial and highly sensual Stealing Beauty, the big screen breakout of Liv Tyler.
The song opens with an eerie piano riff which contradicts with the pure, entrancing vocals and the following, echoing piano estinato which sounds thrilling when combined with the supernal atmosphere of the track,
When I lost him
ache
Shudder shock of pale
My, my true love
Nicolo Donati,
these
days
are
smoking days
but you won't see...
ache
Shudder shock of pale
My, my true love
Nicolo Donati,
these
days
are
smoking days
but you won't see...
I lost him through a maze of tears ... Time stopped... Time took its meaning off... Time stood naked before me... on the empty streets of the mind... on his doorstep... on the roads he passes by... I left my tearprints, hoping he would follow... hoping he would recognize... hoping he would come, yet, not knowing...
he had long changed
his mind,
his home,
his path...
(Deceived me) You deceive me
(With you) Erase it, I will not
(to stay) Touching a helix (didn't she know alex?)
(I will plead) Blotting an excuse you
(alice, alice, alice, alice, alice)
would share,
(alice, alice, alice, alice, alice)
who shall
(alice, alice, alice, alice, alice)
replace
(alice, alice, alice, alice, alice)
you?....
(With you) Erase it, I will not
(to stay) Touching a helix (didn't she know alex?)
(I will plead) Blotting an excuse you
(alice, alice, alice, alice, alice)
would share,
(alice, alice, alice, alice, alice)
who shall
(alice, alice, alice, alice, alice)
replace
(alice, alice, alice, alice, alice)
you?....
Ink Blots
Integrated free verse I Lost Him Through a Maze... by Ayda
Also related: Song to the Siren - This Mortal Coil feat. Elizabeth Fraser
Browse music online at IMEEM
Buy Lullabies to Violaine Vol.2 online from Amazon
Meet the artist Cocteau Twins at cocteau twins | official website
Read the interpreted lyrics online at Always on the Run; No official lyrics released
Integrated free verse I Lost Him Through a Maze... by Ayda
Also related: Song to the Siren - This Mortal Coil feat. Elizabeth Fraser
Browse music online at IMEEM
Buy Lullabies to Violaine Vol.2 online from Amazon
Meet the artist Cocteau Twins at cocteau twins | official website
Read the interpreted lyrics online at Always on the Run; No official lyrics released
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