Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins co-founder Robin Guthrie teased on social media this past week that he’s been working with former label 4AD on “several projects” related to the band that will be released later this year. What exactly those projects are, however, remains unknown.
Guthrie on Friday posted an update on the Cocteau Twins’ Facebook page about an “orphaned” 2018 solo track that he’d released via Bandcamp — but first hinted at some sort of Cocteau Twins project with the venerable indie label, as well as new solo music that he’s got in the works.
He wrote:
Hello, Robin Guthrie here. I’m working right now with 4AD on several projects which may please CT fans, for release later this year, not to mention some of my new work which is currently in production in my studio . That’s all to come…. more news soon.
The Cocteau Twins — Guthrie, Elizabeth Fraser and bassists Will Heggie (1973-1983) and Simon Raymonde (1983–1997) — released all of their music through 4AD (the dreampop trio and U.K. label were practically synonymous) up through 1990’s Heaven or Las Vegas, before before leaving the label for Fontana, which issued the Cocteaus’ final two albums, 1993’s Four-Calendar Café and 1996’s Milk & Kisses.
Since the band’s breakup in 1997, 4AD has released or reissued a number of Cocteau Twins titles, including the Stars and Topsoil collection in 2000, the Lullabies To Violaine singles box set in 2005 and, more recently, vinyl reissues of the band’s albums. (Fontana, too, has released a box set of the band’s latter-period work.)
VINTAGE VIDEO: Local TV newscasters try to explain “Cocteau Twins fever” in 1985
Fans long have hoped the band would at some point release the music recorded for a planned post-Milk & Kisses album, but Raymonde told Spin in 2021 the group hadn’t gotten far enough along before breaking up. “I’ve listened back to (the music) and there are a few brilliant ideas in there, but in terms of an album, no. It would require way too much work for any of us to do,” he told Spin. “Best leave things where they are.”
Raymonde also flatly told Spin the Cocteau Twins “will never reform.” The trio famously agreed to reunite to headline the Coachella festival in 2005 and a subsequent tour, but Fraser pulled the plug less than two months later; she later said she’d decided she couldn’t perform with her former partner Guthrie.
Since the Cocteaus’ breakup Guthrie has released numerous solo albums and EPs, including music recorded with Ride’s Mark Gardener. His most recent release, the Springtime EP, came out in 2022. Raymonde runs Bella Union, the record label he started with Guthrie, and has recorded with the bands Snowbird and Lost Horizons.
And Fraser, who recently toured with Massive Attack, released her first new music in more than a decade in 2022: a five-song EP she recorded with her partner Damon Reece under the name Sun’s Signature.
Guthrie and Fraser made a very rare public appearance together last year when they accepted the Visionary Award on behalf of the Cocteau Twins at the 67th Ivor Novello Awards in London.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Listen: Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser debuts first new music in 13 years
- Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser to release first new music in 13 years on Record Store Day
- 4AD reissuing Cocteau Twins’ ‘Garlands’ and ‘Victorialand’ on 140-gram vinyl
- Watch: Massive Attack reunites with Liz Fraser, covers The Cure at tour opener
- Cocteau Twins’ 1993-1996 output compiled on ‘Treasure Hiding: The Fontana Years’ box set
- Cocteau Twins’ ‘Head Over Heels’ and ‘Treasure’ to be reissued on 180-gram vinyl
- Vintage Video: Local TV newscasters try to explain ‘Cocteau Twins fever’ in 1985
