COCTEAU TWINS - VICTORIALAND Price: €12.99 Format: Compact Disc Availability: Immediate Dispatch

In the two years following TREASURE, the Cocteau Twins released three EPs: AIKEA-GUINEA, TINY DYNAMINE, and ECHOES IN A SHALLOW BAY. Each of these records saw the band moving progressively further away from the heavier sound of previous releases. VICTORIALAND (1986) was the apex of this trend and easily their most ethereal, airy album. Interested listeners should also check out the band's 1986 THE MOON AND THE MELODIES, recorded with ambient musician Harold Budd.
VICTORIALAND features very little in the way of percussion on most tracks, instead concentrating on the interplay between Elizabeth Fraser's vocals and Robin Guthrie's elaborate, but unassuming, guitar effects. This is most successful on "Oomingmak", where the ambient sounds backing the two smoothly ebb and flow, augmented by Simon Raymonde's intermittent bass notes. Other standouts include "Feet-like Fins", which whirls around Guthrie's gorgeously echoing guitar before adding bass and bongos in a swirling climax, and "The Thinner the Air", a haunting track that suggests a more archaic Dead Can Dance. VICTORIALAND and its predecessor, TREASURE, are consistently cited as the band's best records by their fans.