Day 295: Cocteau Twins – Garlands

Today I thought I’d listen to an album that I’ve been saving for a special occasion: Garlands by the Cocteau Twins. But what’s more special than a Monday where I’m spending my evening online shopping? The perfect time might never come, life is short, I might as well listen to it now.

Album cover courtesy of 4AD

I’ve covered Cocteau Twins already, so for a more extensive write-up, see day 74 when I wrote about their second album Head Over Heels. Garlands was released before that as the group’s debut studio album. They’d been signed to 4AD and they recorded it within a week of getting signed, with the band reportedly being unhappy with the results at the time. It’s also their only album to feature their original bassist Will Heggie.

I can’t remember why, I think I either read something about this or spoke to someone about this album, and as a result my expectations were very high. Unfortunately Garlands didn’t really reach the level that I’d hoped. While I did enjoy the darker, grittier post-punk and goth inspired sound, I do like their later more ethereal sound more. What’s especially noticeable for me is realising that the thing that I love most about the Cocteau Twins is their melodies, which isn’t something you get to enjoy as much here.

That being said, it’s their first album and they were very young, with Elizabeth Fraser being only 18 at the time. As a Cocteau Twins album it’s definitely not their best, but the debut album of an upcoming band, it’s on a different level. It’s a very good starting point for a group and it’s interesting to hear how they developed from here into something that’s so different. The difference in the vocals to how Fraser sounds on later albums is especially noticeable, but not in a bad way.

It’s kind of an unsettling, abrasive listening experience but in a wholly enjoyable way, but I still don’t know if I’d ever listen to it again. Garlands was hard to rank, I’ll give it a 7.5/10.