Throughout The Dark Months

My recent rediscovery of The Cocteau Twins continues. Last week I found myself in a record shop with some Christmas money burning a record sized and shaped hole in my pocket and among other things I bought a very nice re- issue of their 1986 mini- album Victorialand, a record of theirs I didn't already own. The Cocteau Twin's music is such an immersive experience despite being quiet at times and ethereal (to use a word that the music press often used about their sound). It demands you stop what you're doing and listen to it, not just have it on. 

Bassist Simon Raymonde was absent in 1986, involved in making the This Mortal Coil album. Robin Guthrie and Liz Fraser went ahead without him, making a largely acoustic album, stripped of basslines and percussion/ drums. It's a minimal, stripped bare Cocteau Twins, Guthrie's acoustic guitar, FX and melodies and Fraser's unique lyrics and vocals producing something approaching ambient- indie. Occasionally some sax or tuba joins in. It's beautiful and stark- like the polar caps that inspired much of the record. 

Throughout The Dark Months Of April And May

This song's title came from the commentary of a David Attenborough wildlife documentary about the Arctic and the album's title is the name of part of Antarctica claimed by the British in the 19th century.