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Alice - Cocteau Twins

May 28th 2008 11:08

Lullabies to Violaine Vol.2 - Cocteau Twins

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...

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?....

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

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Posted By: Ayda - Category: Dream Pop, Soundtrack

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Song to the Siren - This Mortal Coil feat. Elizabeth Fraser

May 23rd 2008 16:36

It'll End in Tears by This Mortal Coil

There are not many songs that can touch you directly on the soul. The eye of the storm within human beings, the quiet, all-balanced core, can not be easily triggered. Until one listens to the heavenly Song to the Siren, that is. Depending on your mood, this innovative track belonging to the pyrotechnics of This Mortal Coil, can ease your troubles, calm your fears or encourage to spill those oceans dammed up behind your eyes.

This Mortal Coil is not a band but a project of the Biritish independent record label 4AD. The label is famous for being pioneers of dream pop (and supporting many hallmark artists such as Cocteau Twins, Colourbox and This Mortal Coil) which is the genre you may experience with Song to the Siren. Dream pop can be primarily summarized as atmospheric pop with ambient and shoegazing elements included. Rich orchestrations are extinct in these lands thus, arrangements are mostly minimal or eccentric. Out-of-this-world, meditative textures are definitive aspects of the genre alongside breathy/softly performed, high pitched/angelic or spoken/moody vocals.

Elizabeth Fraser is one of those vocals who can nail all of the above. Her performance catapults Song to the Siren into celestial planes and her ability to sing various ranges still inspires and amazes me. In this track she sings firm and low which conveys the mood perfectly. She is at the top of her angelic soprano at the unforgettable This Love of Craig Armstrong (from the Cruel Intentions soundtrack. Colorblind and Bitter Sweet Symphony featured in Phantasmelodia are also from this soundtrack) and her breathy, legendary vocals at the ageless Teardrop of Massive Attack.

Song to the Siren sets one upon a dreamy sea voyage by relying heavily on the guitar (yes that instrument you'll hear at the beginning is a guitar, indeed) and Fraser's powerful voice in reverb. The track's serene, breezy entree blows softly into the lyrics,

"On the floating, shipless, oceans
I did all my best to smile
'Til your singing eyes and fingers
Drew me loving to your isle"

as they hand the picture of a person re-finding hope in a tempting call from love. The lonely, silent, dull and repetitive cycle of everyday life is broken by this unexpected call. Joy comes hand in hand with this new-found excitement and hearts pound as if it can't wait to break the chains of immurement and run towards the possibilities. The question marks yet to be answered swarm in the air but the suspense of unknown is overwhelming.

The insides keep repeating an expectant "what if...?"

However, it is this same expectant "what if...?" which is responsible for crushing against the rocks when hopes are left unfulfilled. If the object of love remains hesitant to participate in the mutual dance, one feels like a penniless child looking at the window display of a candy shop.

"Did I dream you dreamed about me?
I am puzzled as the newborn child
I am troubled at the tide"

The lover needs an explanation from the beloved. Was he/she misled? He/she shall gladly pursue or retreat but he/she knows that lingering in this state of not knowing will kill him/her in the end. How many times does one find themselves in no man's land throughout their lives? If not given proper directions, the confusing, ambiguous signals of the beloved causes the lover to deviate from the route and make a mistake which will inevitably lead to:

"Now my foolish boat is leaning
Broken lovelorn on your rocks"

As the lover, in other words love, dies, the ending gets more ironic. It is too late to call out one last time and the sea (life) is as benevolent as she is unforgiving:

"Hear me sing, "Swim to me, swim to me,
Let me enfold you,
Here I am, Here I am,
Waiting to hold you"

But those words are destined to drown like the love itself...

Ink Blots

Also related: Alice by Cocteau Twins

Browse music online at IMEEM

Buy It'll End in Tears online from 4AD

Meet the artist This Mortal Coil at 4AD-This Mortal Coil

Meet the artist Elizabeth Fraser at Wikipedia

Read the entire lyrics at Always on the Run

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Posted By: Ayda - Category: Dream Pop

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Tainted Love - Soft Cell

May 21st 2008 15:14

Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret by Soft Cell

Originally released in 1964 by R&B and soul performer Gloria Jones, Tainted Love became a global hit when covered in flamboyant, synth-atic, light and rainbow colors by the Biritish synth-pop band Soft Cell. Marc Almond and David Ball came together in 1979, unaware of the fact that they were going to leave their imprint on the 80s' musical trends in just a few years with a single that would break Guinness records and end up being one of the most covered songs of all times.

Synthesizers reigned all throughout the 80s as Soft Cell remained an influential force behind and alongside groups such as Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Erasure, A-Ha, Pulp, Blur and Pet Shop Boys.

While Tainted Love's haunting cachiness is timeless, the duo did not fail to impress the critics and fans, especially in the UK, all throughout their 3 (three) years of togetherness which were enough to fit everlasting success in. They came back together in 2001 and released an album after 18 years in 2002.

Marc Almond later re-embraced popularity in his solo career when he gained international recognition for Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart, his cover duet with the song's original performer Gene Pitney. It reached #1 in UK and still stands as one of the most memorable ballads remnant from the 80s.

Starting on a cymbal rhythm and a single bass beat, Tainted Love bursts into its teasing bass walk and synth galore 24 seconds into the track and is quick to deliver its main idea with,

"Sometimes I feel I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away
From the pain that you drive into the heart of me"

as it takes us into the story of a dysfunctional relationship. If you listen to the rhythm closely, you can actually picture someone tiptoeing away stealthily instead of backpaddling in a hopeless situation. This is not the harshest way of saying goodbye. Rather, Soft Cell makes fun of the entire breaking up process by going,

"Once I ran to you
Now I'll run from you"

and teleports one to one of those Tom & Jerry moments when Tom the tomcat starts chasing Jerry the mouse around the house only to end up being chased by Jerry in a comical "the hunted becomes the hunter" craze.

Before lovers become strangers, they separate the same window through which they look towards the future together and realize that they don't like the view from there. What looked beautiful yesterday seems to have lost its nuance today. "You have everything I need" metamorphoses into,

"You don't really want it any more from me
To make things right
You need someone to hold you tight
And you'll think love is to pray
But I'm sorry I don't pray that way"

Gradually, it reaches to a point where you can't be in the same neighborhood, the same house, the same room and finally the same bed with the fallen lover. Any kind of contact with them feels demanding if not repulsive,

"Don't touch me please
I cannot stand the way you tease"

As a side note, this song came out when AIDS marked the end of the free-sex era and surprisingly suited the paranoia many people went through.

With its impish synth waves and skipping tempo, Tainted Love is extremely successful in reflecting the psychological state of the one who walks out on the relationship. Alas, there are so many ballads which portray the pain and gloom of the breakup process that one rarely comes across songs like these to relate to when free of the heavy chains.

It is a deep sigh of relief, a pat in the back and a whistle as you move on merrily.

Ink Blots

Browse music online at IMEEM

Buy Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret online from Amazon

Meet the artist Soft Cell at Wikipedia.

Meet Marc Almond at The Official Mark Almond Website

Read the entire lyrics at Lyrics on Demand

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Posted By: Ayda - Category: Synth Pop

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