Victorialand

Victorialand
Studio album by Cocteau Twins
Released 14 April 1986
Recorded 1985
Genre Ambient, ethereal wave, dream pop
Length 32:52
Label 4AD
Producer Cocteau Twins
Cocteau Twins chronology
Echoes in a Shallow Bay
(1985)		 Victorialand
(1986)		 Love's Easy Tears
(1986)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Martin C. Strong(8/10)[2]
Record-Journal(B-)[3]
This is about the music album. For the Antarctica region, see Victoria Land

Victorialand is the fourth album by Scottish band Cocteau Twins, released by 4AD in April 1986. Working without member Simon Raymonde, who had been enlisted to collaborate on This Mortal Coil's Filigree & Shadow album, vocalist Elizabeth Fraser and guitarist/producer Robin Guthrie produced a record almost completely devoid of percussion, drenching acoustic guitars in reverberant space to create a wide, expansive sound that bordered on ambient.

The album title referred to the part of Antarctica known as Victoria Land, after Queen Victoria (and forming the British claim to the continent, currently dormant under international treaty). As was often the case with Fraser's vocals, the lyrics are indecipherable.[3] The titles of each track were borrowed from passages on the Arctic and Antarctic in David Attenborough's The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth, the accompanying book to his 1984 BBC nature documentary series The Living Planet.[4]

On its initial release in the UK, the vinyl edition was a 12" disc which played at 45 rpm, which would be normal for an EP rather than a full album, which would normally play at 33⅓ rpm. This was due to difficulties in the mastering process in reproducing the minimal soundscapes. Some test pressings at 33⅓ rpm are known to exist.

An uncredited instrumental version of "Oomingmak" was used as a backing track for the credits at the end of the 4AD compilation video Lonely Is an Eyesore. This instrumental version was later made available on the band's 1991 4AD singles box set.

Track listing

All songs written by Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie.

  1. "Lazy Calm" – 6:36
  2. "Fluffy Tufts" – 3:07
  3. "Throughout the Dark Months of April and May" – 3:05
  4. "Whales Tails" – 3:18
  5. "Oomingmak" – 2:43
  6. "Little Spacey" – 3:28
  7. "Feet-Like Fins" – 3:27
  8. "How to Bring a Blush to the Snow" – 3:52
  9. "The Thinner the Air" – 3:16

Credits

Additional personnel

Reception

One critic described the album as ethereal and resembling "early Gong space-rock with much of the stuffing left out."[3]

References

  1. ↑ Raggett, Ned. "Victorialand – Cocteau Twins | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  2. ↑ "[Unknown title]". The Essential Rock Discography - Volume 1: 222. 2006.
  3. 1 2 3 Zebora, Jim (June 15, 1986). "BoDeans' rock mix lacks spark". Record-Journal. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  4. ↑ Attenborough, David (1984). The Living Planet: A Portrait of the Earth (1 ed.). Little, Brown & Company. ISBN 0316057487.
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