Damon Reece and Elizabeth Fraser | Photo by Ben Part
Cocteau Twins frontwoman Elizabeth Fraser today debuted her first new music in 13 years, the track “Golden Air” from her new project Sun’s Signature with her partner, Massive Attack touring drummer Damon Reece — part of a Record Store Day offering that’ll be released in June.
As Sun’s Signature, Fraser and Reece — a drummer who also has played in Lupine Howl, Spiritualized and the Ian McCulloch-less version of Echo & The Bunnymen — have recorded a five-song 12-inch vinyl EP that marks Fraser’s first new music since her one-off 2009 single “Moses.”
You can listen to the full song here:
The release of the EP had been announced in February when it was included on the list of limited-edition Record Store Day releases due out April 23, and it’s still on the RSD list for that date. But Partisan Records, the label releasing Sun’s Signature, says it’ll be released instead as part of the “Record Store Day Drop” on June 18.
The new project features guitar work from Genesis’ Steve Hackett on the songs “Underwater,” “Golden Air” and “Make Lovely the Day,” plus musical contributions from keyboardist Thighpaulsandra (Julian Cope, Coil), bassist Sean Cook (Massive Attack, The Flies, Spiritualized), and guitarists Martin Shellard (Spiritualized) and Alex Lee (Goldfrapp, Massive Attack, 5 Billion in Diamonds).
At least one of the songs on the new EP appears to have been previously released, though possibly in a different form. The first of the EP’s five tracks is “Underwater,” the same name as an electronic single Fraser released in the U.K. in 2000.
And two of the other songs — “Golden Air” and “Make Lovely the Day” — appear to have been performed by Fraser during her rare sets at the U.K.’s Meltdown Festival in 2012, along with “Underwater,” in appearances that had been billed as mixing new music from an anticipated solo album with Cocteaus classics.
The EP’s release comes after Fraser has become more musically visible in recent years.
She first reemerged publicly in September 2018, performing a set of traditional folk songs in London in an exceedingly rare live appearance. She then spent part of 2019 on the road with Massive Attack on the band’s Mezzanine anniversary tour, lending her vocals to the tracks she performed on that album.
Later in 2019, she performed a duet with British folk singer Sam Lee on a new, Bernard Butler-produced recording of ancient folk song “The Moon Shines Bright.” In 2020, she contributed backing vocals to the solo single “Cannibal” by Sigur Rós fronman Jónsi. And last year, she teamed up with Oneohtrix Point Never on the single “Tales From the Trash Stratum.”
Here’s the cover art and tracklist:
Sun’s Signature, Sun’s Signature
Side A
1. “Underwater”
2. “Golden Air”
Side B
1. “Bluedusk”
2. “Apples”
3. “Make Lovely The Day”
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
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- 4AD reissuing Cocteau Twins’ ‘Garlands’ and ‘Victorialand’ on 140-gram vinyl
- Watch: Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser duets on Sam Lee’s ‘The Moon Shines Bright’
- Watch: Massive Attack reunites with Liz Fraser, covers The Cure at tour opener
- Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser resurfaces for rare live performance in London
- Video: Elizabeth Fraser plays Cocteau Twins, new songs at first-ever solo concerts
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