Search - Cocteau Twins :: Twinlights

Interesting and novel Cocteau Twins EP, though a bit sterile

Christopher Culver | 12/01/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The "Twinlights" EP is one of two experimental EPs released shortly before MILK AND KISSES. The other EP was "Otherness," which featured four ambient remixes by Mark Clifford of Seefeel. The "Twinlights" EP includes four tracks given a acoustic treatment.First up is an acoustic and slow version of "Rilkean Heart," which was found eventually on M&K. Liz's voice is brought to the forefront and the production really shows off her sweeping vocals, which were buried on the K&K version."Golden-Vein" is a short b-side from MILK AND KISSES which is so short, in fact, that there isn't much to say about it. It sounds a little like "Rilkean Heart"The third track is an acoustic version of "Pink Orange Red" which, after listening to the original, loud, and drummy version (on 1984's "Tiny Dynamite" EP), sounds shy and subtle. Even though a quiet background piano is the only thing besides Liz Fraser's voice, her lyrics are still as incomprehensible as ever.Last is the acoustic (and music video) version of "Half-Gifts." This version is excellent, involving strings and piano behind Liz's emotional vocals. It is much better than the poor version on MILK AND KISSES, which featured a rather silly-sounding calliope.My only complaint about the "Twinlights" EP is that after all of the Cocteau Twins' earlier work, full of wailing vocals and dreamy, atmospheric guitar, these acoustic treatments may seem a little sterile. Nonetheless, this is indeed superior to MILK AND KISSES, at least."

Pure vocals.

Christopher Culver | 10/28/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"You'll never hear a touch of mostly vocals from the group easily again. This time the vocals are more emotional than ever before. You'll first need to hear Milk and Kisses to feel the emotion to the max. If you like sweet baby vocals and a slow piano then Twinlights is for you. If you like your tears to flow then first buy Milk and Kisses and if you like it then buy Twinlights (the above album). The reason for the four stars is because it comes with only four songs. Otherwise, each songs are great by itself."

The Best They Have Ever Written

KA | NYC Metro | 10/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Before Milk and Kisses was released, the Cocteau Twins released an EP called Twinlights. Usually a listener is treated to maybe a song or two from the forthcoming CD as well as songs that didn't make it onto the CD. This wasn't the case with Twinlights. The two songs on this EP which later showed up on Milk and Kisses had much different arrangements. The other two songs from albums past were also revamped. I view this as a stand-alone work of art in their discography.



At first listen, I was shocked at how stripped down their sound was on this EP. The Twins usually employ quite a bit of production and layers to their music which causes the dreaming/swirling effect a listener experiences when a Twins song unfolds. Here on a stripped down, quasi-live set of songs, the Twins still do the same thing without all the overdubbing and layered production. This indeed is a testament to their strength as artists and songwriters.



The arrangements on this EP are breathtaking. They play and feel like torchsongs. What a brilliant move for them to make.



I was expecting Milk and Kisses to sound much like this EP which it didn't. While I thought Milk and Kisses was a great album, I have to admit that I was very intrigued by the soul-piercing intimacy they showed on Twinlights. Liz has never been this raw and exposed, and beautifully so. I thought perhaps they would experiment a little more with this stipped down version of themselves but these songs were to be some of the last they would write together.



Of all the music they have ever written, this EP stands out to me as their most intriguing and surprising, and probably their best work."